Sugar Sweet
by smellslikechidna
Summary: The new Pokemon Master has many secrets he's not too keen on sharing. [on hiatus]
1. ~*Part One*~

Ugh… kill me. I have too many stories on the go at once… ;_;

Hmmm… not too sure if I'll either get people liking this fic… or people flaming the heck out of me saying that it's been done before etc. Well sod that. This is Chuchino's fic and Chuchino's gonna do it Chuchino's way!

And if you don't like it, then answer to Togepi.

Ja mata, minna-san!

^_^

NOTE: This is NOT an original Trainer fic. When you read this part, you'll find out why, and what "Jiu" has to do with the story. And I don't own Pokémon. So Nya!

More of Chuchino's utterly pointless rambling and explanations at the end of the show.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Sugar Sweet~aPokémonFanfictionbyChuchino.

~*~*~*~*~*~

PartOne

~*~*~*~*~*~

The crowd at Indigo Stadium leapt to their feet in one almost synchronized movement, with a deafening cheer and applause when the referee raised the red flag and declared:

"Umbreon is defeated! The victory goes to Crocanaw and the red trainer!"

The 'red' trainer leapt down the ladder with the Raichu and heavily pregnant Pikachu on his back, and ran to the alligator Pokémon and threw his arms around it's scaly back. Laughing as the Pokémon playfully nipped his ear, he returned the hug before returning the exhausted, but excited creature, before smoothing back his blue hair and looking around. He saw people cheering and yelling, the referee, with some Blissey and Chansey Paramedics tending to the comatose Umbreon, Umbreon's trainer fussing over his Pokémon frantically… and the gigantic crater in the center of the arena Crocanaw had caused with the Seismic Toss move he had learned with the help of a TM. He had won… and damn, it felt good! No, it didn't just feel good – it felt absolutely fantastic!

Cautiously, he made his way over to the obviously humiliated and angry green Trainer – Gary Oak, from Pallet Town, Kanto. Sitting on the stadium floor, wondering how it had gone so wrong and so quickly, Gary sat amidst his 6 emptied Pokeballs and watched as the Blisseys and Chanseys took his precious Pokémon away. Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Umbreon, Arcanine, Dodrio, Kingler… How had he lost with THAT combination?! The answer was quite simple. He hadn't counted on the Raichu that knew ground moves, the water type that knew dark and fighting moves, the Noctowl that beat the crap out of Dodrio, even though it was at a lower and inferior level to the triple-bird… Kneeding his knuckles into his head, Gary failed to notice the grey-gloved hand that was offered to him.

The blue-haired trainer smiled sympathetically. "Hey, it was a good match. Pax?"

Gary scowled. "Bite me, Kaneda."

Kaneda stepped back and put his hands up in defence. "Hey, chill out, man! There's always next year!"

"Oh yeah?" retorted Gary, snatching up his gilded Pokeballs with aggression and slamming them onto his belt. "Next year? What, are you gonna clean the floor with me next year?!"

Kaneda gave a funny little smile, and lifted the Pikachu from his shoulder and hugged her when one of the baby Pikchu inside her stomach kicked. "Well, actually no." he said, amused. "I won't be coming back next year. I'm thinking of becoming a breeder instead." Gary looked shocked, or to be more specific, dismayed at the fact that he'd never be able to humiliate the guy in front of him the same way he had been this afternoon.

"Whatever. I don't care what the hell you do with your life. Like I said, Kaneda. Bite me." Turning with a sneer, Gary stormed across to the subdued cheerleaders and walked to the stadium tunnel.

Kaneda stared. Then, with a grin, he turned to the Raichu. "You heard the guy, Dusty." With a toothy smile, Dusty hopped from his perch, ran over to Gary, jumped, and closed his teeth on a sensitive spot.

"**_YEOWCH!!!!!_**"

~*~*~*~*~*~

In the bathroom of the Pokémon center, Kaneda – or Jiu, as his given name was, splashed water on his face to freshen up and took in his appearance, with Dusty peering up at him. He wasn't overly handsome – not in his eyes, anyway – but he wasn't ugly or repulsive either. He had spiked, navy blue hair with a few blond streaks running through like lightning, and deep brown eyes. His nose and upper cheeks were dotted with freckles, which got incredibly dark in the summer, making him "a human dot-to-dot", according to one of his supposed friends. His lips were perfectly formed, although he didn't notice or care, and had a slight reddish shade that stood out from his tanned complexion. His hands were covered with grey fabric gloves and he was wearing a green jacket with a white-and-orange t-shirt underneath and a pair of blue jeans. Jiu basically looked like your average 18-22 year old guy. Reaching to see if there was a hand-towel, and finding there was none, he pulled his shirt up and wiped the water off his face before taking a deep breath and going out of the men's bathroom to face the mob of reporters outside like a gladiator venturing bravely to his almost certain death in the arena.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Nurse Joy eventually rescued Jiu from the lion's-den, and sent him into the back, where, to his chagrin, he was locked into a tiny room with a few cushions while Nurse Joy convinced about a hundred fans that the Pokémon Master wasn't in the center, and hadn't been seen since he dropped his Pokémon off… and then the crowd insisted on seeing the Pokémon, which was when Nurse Joy got her fiancé to use his Onix and Graveller to clear the center in record time. Then she kissed him.

Brock gave a goofy, dizzy grin before fainting. _(A/N. Hey, I decided to be nice to him, seeing as he won't be in the fic that often.)_

_ _

~*~*~*~*~*~

After securing a hotel room that allowed two electric Pokémon do whatever the hell they wanted as long as Jiu paid double for anything they damaged, a messenger wearing a nametag reading "Indigo Plateau Staff – Mr. Akira Tetsuo" knocked on the door, rudely waking Jiu from dreams about what the heck he was going to do with his life. Johto League Master at 17, Orange League at 19, and now at 21, Indigo League… there was no need for him to do battle in the Pokémon Leagues anymore. He'd done what he set out to do. Becoming a breeder seemed like an interesting prospect. And considering the way Pikachu and Dusty seemed to be "at it", as he put it, constantly, he needn't wait before starting. Pikachu was due in two months. Five baby Pikchu… Dear God… how would he cope?

"Um… sir?" Akira's hesitant voice came through the crack in the doorway. Jiu let his eyes travel over until he found the geeky, green-haired youth peering hesitantly through the doorway, feeling like he was about to be yelled at.

"Yup?"

Akira scratched at his cheek in a nervous habit, and twisted his long, pianist fingers around the blue envelope awkwardly.

"I have to give this to you… It's an important letter from the Pokémon League President."

Jiu laughed softly. "Well, it don't have wings, why are ya standing out there like a Delibird? I don't bite! Dusty might, but he and Pikachu are kinda busy so…" Akira cautiously approached the trainer, still cradling the letter like it was a newborn, and placed it on the table next to him. Then, turning to leave, he gave a bow in respect and nervously edged his way back to the door.

"Hey, wait!" Jumping to his feet, Jiu hastily pulled his wallet from his back pocket, and, ripping the Velcro strip open with a ripping sound, he grabbed the first paper note he came to. Inspecting it closely to find out the value, Jiu grabbed Akira's hand and forced the money into the outstretched palm.

"Oh, no sir! I couldn't-" protested Akira, holding the P2000 note back, but had his hand shoved back to him by Jiu.

"Take it! Jeez, you gotta be the first guy who's ever tried to stop me!"

"But-"

"Look. Take the goddamn money. I don't care if you give it to the first person you meet. It just makes me feel better if you'd take it, ok?"

"I… thank you."

Carefully folding the green and blue money, and stuffing it into his pocket, Akira bowed once more, and stepped out of the door, letting it shut with an echoing click.

Flopping back onto the huge bed, Jiu let his eyes wonder across the envelope. Deep blue with a silver crest of legendary Pokémon, and the words "_Indigo League of Pokémon. Bi-centennial, 1708-2008_" printed in silver underneath. The name "J.S Kaneda" was written in black pen in the middle. Slipping his finger in a gap where the envelope flap had been unevenly stuck down, he ripped across in a haphazard fashion until the packet was open. Inside was a letter. Reading across, it told him:

*^*^*^*^*^*

**_Dear Mr. Kaneda,_**

**_We would like to congratulate you for your victory and success at this year's Pokémon League Tournament. Now that you are the Pokémon Master for the year of 2008-09, we feel that you should be informed of your duties._**

**_A meeting will be held this evening at the Boardroom in the Indigo Plateau. It is imperative you attend._**

*^*^*^*^*^*

The letter then went on to list the time etc.

Jiu rolled his eyes. Truth was, he KNEW all about his "duties". They involved snooty functions and attending conferences that bored the hell out of him when they went on about how "Squirtle Shells were dangerous to human health" and "The smell of a Gloom was environmentally unfriendly", and other bullcrap like that. Sighing, he jerked himself up and went to the bathroom to shower.

~*~*~*~*~*~

After being ushered through various corridors and passing rooms he never knew existed, Jiu was left in a room, again, and was just expected to amuse himself until the directors had sobered up. The room was bright and airy, with photographs and paintings of previous Pokémon Masters lovingly hung on the walls. Underneath each was a plaque with an inscription of the person and the years they had been masters. They ranged from an old man with a beard in an old, fraying canvas painting, to beautiful sepia photographs with gilded casings, to large, almost poster like colour photographs on the wall, and then space for about 6 more pictures. A wide grin spread over his face when he realized he would be the next one. As he was thinking about it, a man in dirty overalls hurried in, and in the next available spot, quickly pulled out a power drill, and screwed a bronze plaque onto the wall. Then ran out as his pager beeped furiously. Intrigued, Jiu looked at what had been inscribed on the tiny piece of metal.

**_~Jiu Sacha Kaneda~_**

**_*2008-present.*_**

**_ _**

Grinning, Jiu slowly paced around and looked at the more recent photos. One was of a brown-haired, blue-eyed boy called Richie, another was some girl called Giselle. The next one really caught Jiu's attention, made the hair on his neck and arms stand at full attention. The kid was small, with an unbelievably happy smile on his face. He had dark, curious eyes similar to Jiu's, slight marks on his cheeks that couldn't be determined if it was dirt or something else. His face was framed by wild black hair that was covered by a beaten, scruffy red and white, official Pokémon league hat, and the top of a black t-shirt and blue-and-white jacket covered the rest of what was seen of the kid on the photo. This kid was the shortest lasting Pokémon Master in history, disappearing after just 4 months of gaining the title. The plaque underneath read:

**_~Ashton Satoshi Ketchum~_**

**_*May 2000-September 2000*_**

**_ _**

Jiu remembered this kid, because they'd held an emergency battle on September 17th between the 2nd and 3rd place trainers from the tournament Ashton had won, leaving Richie the winner. He also remembered seeing on TV his mother and friends do one of those TV pleas for runaway kids. He remembered Pikachu crying when she watched it, and remembered the overwhelming sense of guilt he felt when he saw the red-headed girl burst into tears and start crying into the shoulder of the guy with the orange shirt and squinted eyes, while the one in the green t-shirt looked around awkwardly. He remembered how every Police Station and Pokémon center in Kanto, Johto and the Orange Archipelago had pictures of him up with the words "Missing Person" printed across the top. Rooting around in his pocket, Jiu produced the self-same poster. Torn and creased almost beyond recognition Jiu could still see the resemblance between this picture and the one hanging in front of him. He recognized "Ashton". Recognized him very well. Because Jiu had seen the same face and black hair every day for 15 years of his life.

Because Jiu knew Ash Ketchum well.

Very well.

Because Jiu _was_ Ash Ketchum.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Well, well, minna-san, what didja think? Took me all of 2 hours to write in between tidying my room and having text-message battles!

In case you're wondering (probably aren't like, but hey!) where Ash's "new" name comes from, 

Jiu= Ash's name in Korea.

Sacha= Ash's name in France (NOT Quebec)

Kaneda = My fave character in "Akira". Yeah, it has sod all to do with Pokémon, but I just thought 'what the hell', and did it.

So there's your culture lesson for the next 9 months.

Oh yeah. Little spoiler for next part. 

Jiu meets an old friend.

Hope that didn't give TOO much away. ^_~

And rent/steal/buy Akira. Damn, that movie ROCKS! Except the bit when Tetsuo… I'm gonna shut up now.

Ja mata, minna!

Oh yeah, and if you're wondering, I'm almost finished with parts 4+5 of one fic, and part 5 of the other.

And:

"Embrace the unchangeable destiny" – Toi Et Moi.


	2. ~*Part Two*~

Right. I know I said this was on hold, but, damn Destiny and Fate to hell, I've got writers block on TC. Darn. And I got a little flash of this in a Chemistry lesson a few weeks ago, and, now I'm off school (Viva la half-term!!) I can write without being yelled at for being on the computer too long! 

Please, minna, flame anything but the font. If your computer can't show it up, fix the settings on your monitor or highlight the text.

Oh, and to the wise-guys who thought that Misty was gonna be in this part, NEVER EVER put a guess in a review to me! Because I completely changed my mind and she ISN'T in this part at all, apart from a flashy-backy-bit! There IS an old character though. Not saying who! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Read the bloody fic! If you wanna recap, PLEASE read part one, because I suck at reviews! They either range from 2 lines long, or the recap is longer than the whole fic put together! Lemme put the recap in simple understanding. Ash is Jiu. Jiu is Ash. Comprendez? Ash became Jiu to escape evil tabloid rumors about him. Sort of a different identity-type-thing.

And any flashy-back stuff is in italics; thoughts will be purple.

Teensy bit of romancy-stuff in this. ^_^.

**_"It's time to polka for Ponyta and Pidgey too!_**

**_Come on, put on your lederhosen and try not to step on little Pikachu!_**

**_You'd better grab yourself a partner,_**

**_Like Tentacruel or Bulbasaur_**

**_Hold on a minute, there's at least a hundred and twenty-seven more!_**

**_…_**

**_Everybody Polkamon!"_**

**__******

Viva la Napster!

And SMILE!

Soooo, without further ado, Chuchino Productions proudly (Ha! Proudly, my ass!) present… 

~*~*~*~*~*~

*SugarSweet

~*~*~*~*~*~

_PartTwo_

~*~*~*~*~*~

_"Come on, Misty! Ya gotta see this!" Racing up the hill, Ash turned around and yelled to the girl he could barely see in the fading sunlight._

_"Calm down! I'm going as fast as I can! What's the big rush anyway!?"_

_Ash froze. "Oh, um… no rush. I just thought you'd really wanna see this…"_

_She smiled slightly. "Okay then. How much farther is it?"_

_"Not far. Top of this hill."_

_By now, she'd caught up with him, and, grabbing his hand, she dragged him the rest of the way. "Well, what are we waiting for?"_

_By the time they reached the top, the sun was gone, and tiny flecks of silver dotted a navy blanket like sequins, with a big silver face that beamed down at them, and the rushing sounds of a waterfall added to the beauty. Pokémon calls could be heard quietly, and the whole area they were in was so serene that anyone with any personal demons or problems could just go there and forget everything and everyone…_

__

_A perfect oasis._

_ _

_"Wow…" she breathed, "It's beautiful…"_

_Grinning, he nodded. "I, um, kinda thought you'd like it. Pikachu and me found it before, and…" he trailed off, a slight pinkish hue coloring his cheeks and stared at the view before them._

_"It's so romantic…" she sighed dreamily, eyes shining, and her arms, free from the Egg, hugged around her sides. It would have been nice for her to have had someone, a **real** someone, to share that with. Someone who would have wanted to be more than 'just friends'. _

_But, Ash loved her as a friend, so…_

_Still, there was one question bugging her…_

_"Ash?"_

_"Hmm?"_

_"Why did you want to show me this?" she asked quietly, a silent hope that he chose this spot for a special reason, maybe he wanted to tell her something… He'd deliberately left Pikachu and Togepi at camp with Brock; did he mean something by that? Was this all a plan to get them alone? Oh, how she hoped it was._

_ _

_He gulped. The way her eyes were shining in the silvery moonlight raised a choking lump in his throat, and mentally, he sighed. If life was perfect, he would walk up to her, and, no matter how hard it was, he would tell her how he felt, and she would cry with happy tears, and say exactly the same back to him, and they would embrace as if it was innate in their souls, as if they'd known it since the day they were born._

_But life never was perfect…was it?_

_"Ash?"_

_He jumped out of his daydream, blinking his eyes quickly and shaking thoughts out of his head. _

_"What?"_

_Frowning at him, she turned her head away. "You never answered my question,"_

_"Oh… What question?"_

_Snarling, she leapt at him with a magically appearing mallet, socked him one over the head and yelled, "How dense can you possibly get?!"_

_"Whoa! Chill, Misty!" he protested, dizzily rubbing the spot on his crown where he'd been smacked, and uncertainly pulled himself to his feet. "I was kidding!"_

_"Yeah. Sure you were." she growled, and glowered at him dangerously._

_"Misty!" he half-yelled, almost desperately. This wasn't going to plan. "I swear on Pikachu's life I was kidding!" To his surprise, she burst out into amused laughter. "Huh?"_

_"Gotcha!" Ash took an involuntary step back. " So was I, Ashy-boy."_

_"Wasn't funny," he muttered, dropping his head and shoving his hands into his pockets. "Jus' wasn't funny… It hurt…"_

Sighing, she store over to him, yanked his hands out of his pockets, and lifted his protesting chin up with her hand – but didn't take it away. "Aw, c'mon. Don't get all sulky on me! Let's just enjoy the view before Pikachu comes and-" Trailing off, she noticed how close they had gotten while she was speaking, and how intense his eyes were – trying to talk without words or motions. He noticed the same thing about her. It was almost surreal. Both sets of eyes were two souls trying to communicate… but couldn't. Almost like they spoke different languages or one was deaf to the others speech. He couldn't tell her, but couldn't NOT tell her either…he had to tell someone apart from Pikachu… but if she rejected him… If she rejected him, he could say he was kidding, right? But what if she said no, meaning yes, and he said he was only kidding? And what if she said yes?! What the hell was he going to-

"Can I kiss you?" he blurted out, shocking her, and he bit his tongue – hard, wincing when he almost broke the thin layer of skin, and instead stood on his own foot. Why the hell did he say that?!?! 

"B-waaaa? What did you say?!" She managed to speak, only by hoping to God he didn't say what she thought he did. Did he know? Who told him? If it was Tracey, he was going to die. Painfully, via mallet and paper fan. Her heart started charging and felt like it would burst out of her chest. Now he was twisting his foot nervously on the silver-tipped grass-blades, digging a hole with his toe, blushing furiously with probable embarrassment.

"Um… never mind… doesn't matter."

"Ash." she warned, giving a glare that made him gulp and speak out again.

"I, um, asked if I could, uh, kiss… you… it doesn't matter."

Why did he want to kiss her? Was it because he liked her? Or just a different reason? Why would HE want to kiss HER? 

"Why?"

He didn't reply. How could he? Lift his head up, look her dead in the eye and say; "Cuz I love you"? Aside from the fact that it would freak her out incredibly, he was only 14. He barely knew what love was, apart from this weird feeling he got whenever he was near Misty, and how could he love someone when the only girlfriend he'd had was a 1st grader who'd assaulted him at recess in a game of kiss-chase and threatened to get her 10-year-old brother to beat the crap out of him if he didn't go out with her.

"Ash, why do you wanna… kiss me?"

Shrugging his shoulders, and mumbling, "I dunno", he turned off back for camp, bed and Pikachu, leaving Misty standing, bemused, and staring after his retreating figure.

"Ash! Wait!"

He didn't see the point. She'd only laugh at him.

"Ash Ketchum, if you were any kind of friend, you'd get your ass back here and tell me why you wanted to kiss me!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" he yelled, swinging around to face her and stamping his foot on the ground. "It just… seemed like the right thing to do at the time…"#

"Oh."

He shuffled nervously on his feet. "I just, well, cuz, well, cuz we're best friends, and, I, erm, haven't, um, y'know-"

"What's 'y'know'?"

"**Y'know**, um, I, um, haven't, um"

"Kissed anyone?" The bright red flush covering his cheeks was enough to answer. "Why does that involve me?"

… Because I wanna kiss you…He mentally shook himself. First off, he screwed up his chance to tell her, now he was digging his own grave, what the heck was he gonna do now?

"Um, if we're best friends, you wouldn't hold nothing against me, would you?"

"Course not."

"So… if I DID kiss you, it'd just be on a friendship thing, right? And you wouldn't laugh at me or nothing?" he said, sounding almost desperate.

"Nope. I wouldn't laugh."

He stared at the grass for a moment, then, slowly, looked back at her, his cheeks covered in a pink hue and a shy smile on his lips. "So… would you mind? If I kissed you? Only a friendship thing, mind." 

"I, I guess so." she whispered. He cracked a grin.

"Really?!" he bit his lip as punishment for sounding too excited about it. It was just a kiss, right? No. He was going to kiss Misty. That meant everything to him.

They got closer and closer, and when they were just a centimeter or two apart they looked each other in the eyes and then-

Leaping awake, Jiu rubbed his eyes frantically, half of him glad he'd awoken, but the other half was crying to get the dream back. Pikachu glared at him from the corner of her eye, told him to go back to sleep, then covered her nose with her tail and closed her eyes. He hated these dreams. He wanted to just forget them. They were flashbacks of major things from when he… was who he used to be. He rubbed his eyes once more, and looked at the clock by his bed. 

5:12am. He shook his head clear, pushed the covers off, swung his legs over the side and headed for the bathroom. No point going back to sleep. 

He'd only dream again.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Sitting nervously in the locker room, he checked, double-checked, triple-checked AND quadruple-checked the six multi-colored balls and fitted them to the belt at his waist, scratched the now retired Pikachu's ears as an uneasy reaction to the yells he could hear outside. Defending a title was always nerve-wracking. An opponent had virtually nothing to lose. They came with their Pokémon, battled valiantly, and if they lost, they'd come back.

I swear, this is the LAST time I'm doing this. I'm gonna quit, I'm gonna quit, I'm gonna quit. Ah, who am I kidding? Stupid contract has me stuck here for two more years…Mental note: Shoot Agent.

But the Master had everything to lose. He lost his title, a record (if he/she had one), respect, and any authority he/she/it had been given. An explosive cheer echoed from above, as the referee had probably declared the winner, and a loudspeaker announcement declared that there would be a ten-minute break while the victor's Pokémon were healed and if necessary, any transfers required would be made.

Wincing, Jiu pulled his hand from his mouth, and noticed that he'd bitten his nail right down to the quick. He hadn't done that since he was 15… That dream hadn't helped much. He'd had flashback-dreams ever since he'd gotten back from Indigo Plateau. Each one was more recent than the next. So if last night's one was from Tojoh Falls… then the worst one would be in about two weeks. Ugh… 

A loud, clanging bell woke him up from his daydreams, indicating that there was 5 minutes to go before the next match. Standing up, and pulling Pikachu from his head into his arms, minding not to hold her too tight around the waist, he walked down to the tunnel and stood next to his opponent.

Brown hair, blue eyes, a Raichu on his shoulder… the guy looked really, REALLY familiar. He wore a black leather jacket over a pair of black jeans, 5 Pokéballs at his waist and a determined, hard look on his face; there was something recognizable about him, but Jiu couldn't place a name to the face.

"Hey."

The other guy looked at him through the corner of his eye, gave him the once-over then turned away.

"So, um, good luck."

"I won't need it."

Jiu gave him a Look and said: "Sure you won't."

The opponent whipped around. "What are you trying to say? That I'm not good enough? Is that it? Well, whoopdeedoo to you, but don't enjoy your position too long. Soon as this match is over, you can go crying back to wherever you came from, understand? 'Cuz you are SO gonna lose."

"Rai!"

"Listen, pal, I wasn't saying anything. I was just trying to be friendly. That's all."

The Raichu and trainer snorted in unison. "I tried being friendly once. Didn't work."

"Whatever."

The bell rang again, and both trainers walked out to the crowd, Jiu waving as was the custom for all defending trainers. Climbing up the ladder into the box, and setting Pikachu down carefully, who promptly curled up into a ball, tail over nose, arms around distended stomach, eyes closed, went to sleep, Jiu set the six Pokéballs into the holes indicated, and his opponent did the same. The referee walked out to the center-circle and told both them and the crowd about how this was a 'full, 6-on-6 battle. The defending trainer cannot change Pokémon until defeated, whereas the challenger can change Pokémon as often as he/she/it wants.'

Nodding in understanding, Jiu grabbed the first Pokéball, colored in brown and yellow, and yelled "Pidgeot! Go!" 

A bright flash of white light emptied into the arena, and the oversized bird-type Pokémon – formerly the Pidgeotto that had evolved so long ago - flew out majestically, and landed in front of the green box he was thrown from. Flexing his wings to show off his power, he glared at the red trainer, who was hefting a Pokéball down to the concrete field. 

"Zippo! I choose YOU!"

Jiu almost fell off of the podium. "Richie?! No way!"

A bright light filled the arena just as Pidgeot had done, and a torrent of fire came streaming out as the light faded, to reveal a huge, red, angry Charizard. It flapped its dragon-wings and created a dust storm, sending clouds around the stadium, and causing spectators to cough violently.

"You're going down!" Richie yelled, reversing the usual 'peace' sign into something offensive. Richie was one hell of a lot different than he used to be.

The referee raised the two flags. "The green trainer has chosen Pidgeot, while the challenger has picked Charizard! When the flags go down, the battle begins. Ready?"

Both opponents nodded, glaring at the other.

The flags dropped.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Geez… I spent like 3 pages on a flashback… Oy… Ah well. It was shippy, I guess. I'm gonna work on this for a while now, hope y'all don't mind, and return to TC when I get some ideas fore both fic and revenge. ;-)

Please review! If you do, then, um, I won't set the Egg-bastard on you. Can't say fairer than that.

And, BTW, this is totally pointless, but here's some Pidgeot info. Ash's Pidgeot, when it was evolved, was bigger than normal. A Pidgeot should be no more than 4foot-11, but it was bigger than Ash who is 5'2. Cool!

Hope you all had a happy valentines, minna! All romance and chocolate and stuff… Ewwww…

Next part will either be up really quick or will be a while. I go back to school on Monday, sonotfair, and I have 2 essays to copy up for LotF, about Chp9 when Simon died and yucky stuff about the "sexual imagery used in the killing of the Pig". Lovely. GCSE sucks… Wish there was a GCSE Anime… That'd be so cool! Homework: Watch Pokémon, Tenchi Muyo and Gundam Wing and say who is the cutest bishonen and why. Um, Heero, cuz he's sexy. And Tracey, cuz he's even sexier. And Trowa, although he DOES resemble Shigerou-kuso... *squeal!* Such HARD homework!


	3. ~*Part Three*~

Hey minna-sama! Part trés – coming up.

Few notes: I don't own Pokémon, I would LIKE to, but at the moment I'm concentrating on getting my hands on Tracey for, *a-hem* personal reasons… ^_~

Seriously, Pokémon belongs to a bunch of rich, drunk, Japanese businessmen, who sing "Shaft" every Saturday night in a downtown Tokyo karaoke bar.

AKA Nintendo HQ.☻☺☻☺☻

Parts of this may suck – I'm still in "BLESS!!!!!" mode, after I watched "The Chikorita Rescue" and was squealing every 10 seconds, and ESPECIALLY at the end when she kissed Ash! Damn, that was so frickin' cute! Go Chikorita!!! "Chiko-chiko!"

Any flashy-back bits (counts: I think there are two in this part ^_^) are in italics.

Recap – the dude who is [Jiu][1] is really [Ash][2]. Sort of a double identity thingy. Look, with this chapter thing (which I loathe…), you should have READ parts 1+2 now! And do me a favor, read the prologue (Walking Away) too.

Ja ne, peeps!

~*~*~*~*~*~

*SugarSweet

~*~*~*~*~*~

_PartThree_

~*~*~*~*~*~

"And the green trainer's 3rd Pokémon has been defeated! There will be a short intermission for a field change, as is the tradition for an Orange League final…"

The static voice of the announcer (who sounds like Tracey – am I the only one to notice that? ^_^), blared from a nearby speaker and cut through the roaring crowd like a knife. Jiu flopped onto the bench and sorted the remaining 3 Pokéballs at his waist, setting the three defeated Pokémon aside to take to Joy. This battle was looking doubtful. Pidgeot, although she fought well and bravely, quickly became BBQ-Bird. Crocanaw defeated Zippo, and then Richie's Hitmontop, but then Richie unleashed Sparky, and Crocanaw joined Pidgeot in the ICU. Jiu sent out Donphan, and Richie recalled Sparky and sent out a HUGE Tentacruel, which knocked Donphan out with a combined Acid and Hydro-Pump attack, which also managed to soak the first six or seven rows of the crowd.

Then the announcer blared that "The challenger was winning four Pokémon to three, and there will be a field change", Richie stuck two fingers up at Jiu, who simply glared, and sat down to sort out his remaining Pokémon. Donphan, Pidgeot and Crocanaw were out, he had Dusty, an Espeon and a Bayleef left. Grass, Electricity and Psychic. Oy…

The field changed from a sandy desert to a grass field, and the crowd, most of whom were eating various bags of peanuts, hot-dogs, sushi and burgers, started screaming again. Brushing himself off, and setting Pikachu down carefully, mindful of her bump, he clutched his Pokéballs tightly, and strode back onto the podium, head-held high.

"Sparky! Go!"

The Pokéball smashed down onto the field with a loud crack, and a white flash burst out in the form of Richie's high-powered and extremely agile Raichu. Sparky was well known in various leagues for being to Richie what Dragonite is to Drake. One kick-ass Pokémon.

Jiu snatched the green and lemon Pokéball from his waist, and threw it down quickly. A large, white flash also emerged, whipping the Pokéball back to the trainer with the energy force, but this time the light formed into the almost dog-like Bayleef. With a large piece of foliage sticking out of her head, and still with a crush on her trainer the size of Kanto, Bayleef – formerly Chikorita, and only evolving after Professor Oak slipped her a few Rare Candies with her kibble 6 years ago – was a strong Pokémon, with an advantage over two of Richie's Pokémon. 

"Sparky! Agility and follow it up with a Seismic Toss!" Richie yelled, aggressively pushing some of his chestnut fringe out of his eyes, and watched as Sparky sped around Bayleef, and, grabbing her by her back legs, jumped up, ready to slam the poor grass-type onto the floor.

"Bayleef! Reverse the attack with your vine-whip!".

A reverse attack was just that. Bayleef extended two vines, wrapped them around the unsuspecting Sparky's waist, and flipped them both so that Sparky was now underneath her, and then Gravity took its course, and both Pokémon went spiraling downwards and crashed into the floor. Bayleef, jumping off and flashing a wink to her trainer, checked if Sparky was out with a vine… which was bitten by sharp, Raichu incisor teeth, and a violent Thunderbolt was sent right up. Static charges ricocheted in her throat and neck as she wailed, and as the flashes and sparks died down, Sparky assumed a victory stance.

"Bayleef! Take Down – Now!"

Sparky swung around to a face-full of green hide before everything went all funny and swirly and rather amusing... Grinning moronically, he crashed facedown with his tail straight up in the air, before the tail slowly went limp and the pointed end stuck into the ground.

The referee raised the green flag. "Raichu has been defeated!"

"DAMMIT!" Richie yelled, glaring at the blue-haired bishónen on the field with his arms around the evolved Chikorita, as Sparky was turned into warm energy and sucked into the brown and yellow ball with a yellow star at the top. Jiu stood up, and, in a brief display of immaturity, stuck his behind out at the red trainer, turned his head around, waved his hand by his rear offensively and stuck his tongue out, much to the crowd's amusement. Richie felt himself burning up with rage, and gripped the smooth metal bar in front of him to stop himself from jumping down and ripping the Pokémon Master to shreds. But that was no way for the next Orange Island Pokémon Master to behave. So he settled for pushing as much stress and tension onto the innocent cool bars in front of him, and reached under his jacket for his 5th Pokéball.

"Go! Dotty!" _(A/N. ALRIGHT! So I couldn't think of a better nickname for a psychotic two-headed giraffe! Geez! Give me a break! I'm on caffeine withdrawal!))_

A HUGE, double headed Giraffe-type Pokémon materialized, roared, and glared at Bayleef, who was still busy making googly-eyes at her trainer.

"Bayleef – Tackle attack!"

"Bayyyyy!!!!"

Tearing her eyes away from her trainer, Bayleef turned, scraped her foot on the ground a la Tauros, and charged straight for her target. She, with a groan, slammed into her target, and both Pokémon crashed to the ground, Bayleef yelping as a Girafarig hoof caught her in the mouth, and Dotty squealing as Bayleef's head-leaf was stuck in his rear cranium and one of her vines was strangling the other. 

"Bayleef!"  
"Dotty! Get up!" Richie yelled, and made frantic gestures with his left hand, earning strange glances from various crowd members. Dotty nodded, dragged himself up, still with Bayleef struggling against him, and, to Bayleef and her trainer's shock, the Girafarig began to glow eerily, casting ominous shadows around the stadium, and making Richie's conceited grin seem just _that_ much more frightening.

"Oh _SHIT_! Bayleef! It's an Explosion attack! He's used a TM! For Lugia's sake, get the hell outta there!" Close to throwing himself from the podium, Jiu had to _watch_, as excruciating seconds ticked past, and his former Chikorita struggled against her own tangled vines, and he knew he couldn't do **_ANYTHING_** to help, except pray to Mew that Nurse Joy could help later…

As Bayleef writhed against her self-inflicted snare, Dotty turned pure white, and the glow seemed to make the day turn to night, and hundreds of spectators covered their eyes, and thunder crashed in the middle of the stadium as Dotty blew a crater the size of a house in the heart of the pitch. 

"Bay-LEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"

"Gi-RAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Dust billowed around with an unnatural glow, like a curtain, covering the two bodies of the undoubtedly comatose Pokémon, and the referee stood, shirt soiled by dust, weakly holding his flags, mouth agape, like every other spectator, waiting to see the gladiators to find out who survived.

As the curtains rose, Dotty was there – comatose. The referee was about to raise the green flag until the curtain vanished altogether… and Bayleef wasn't there anymore. A green creature, also unconscious, lay next to Dotty, with a huge pink flower around her neck. In the panic and hysterical nanoseconds during the explosion, she had evolved into her ultimate form, Meganium. The stubborn Chikorita who would never, ever evolve was at her final form. Chuckling weakly, her trainer and long-time crush called her back into her Pokéball with a feeble praise of 'Congratulations', before hugging the ball to his chest and setting it by Pikachu, still lounging on the bench.

Richie called back Dotty, before looking at the huge lit scoreboard to his right. His picture stared out, backed by a red glare, and faded pictures of Sparky, Zippo, Jellybean___(A/N. WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO NICKNAME A FRICKIN' TENTACRUEL FOR CHRISSAKE?!) _and Dotty were hidden in an artificial shadow, with lights by the three defeated Pokémon. On the green side was Jiu, with faded pictures of Pidgeot, Crocanaw, Donphan, and Bayleef/Meganium. Two boxes were left in black, as with his own, because the Pokémon hadn't been sent out yet. He grinned at the fact that he'd taken out a Pokémon with one blow. Sure, he'd knocked out his own, but Bayleef, along with the retired Pikachu, was Jiu's best Pokémon for battling. And if he'd beaten it with such ease, then what chance did the final two Pokémon stand? A fleeting daydream overtook him of what it would be like to beat the Orange League Master.

"Dusty! I choose you!"

Awakened from his flights of fancy, Richie quickly snapped into action. An electric type? Damn! He hadn't seen that one coming! This was bad! A Butterfree was a flying type and weak against ANY type of shock… And he couldn't use Jellybean, because water-types were worse at battling than Happy… However, Happy was the strongest remaining Pokémon Richie had left, leveled out at LV87 after 10 years of training, and the only one remotely capable of battling a Raichu. 

He grabbed the violet Pokéball, and slammed it to the pitch, causing a white light to blaze again, and the Pokéball to whip back into it's owner's outstretched palm with a smack. Narrowing his eyes at the Butterfree flapping around, more interested in the different scents in the air than kicking the butt of a Raichu, Jiu raised his arm, pointed at the flying bug, yelled out an order for Thundershock, and prayed silently that it would all be over. It was bad enough the match was hard – normally, they were a breeze, but the fact that it was against _Richie_, his bestest friend ever not counting Brock, Misty or Tracey… Just made it even worse. If it had been someone else, ANYONE else… Why did it HAVE to be Richie?!

~*~*~*~*~*~

___"Hey, Ash?"_

_"Hmmm?" He turned to the brown-haired boy next to him._

_"Let's make a promise!"_

_"A promise?"_

_"Yeah, a promise. A promise that the two of us will become Pokémon Masters, no mater what."_

_"Yeah! Sure, ok, I promise!" Ash stood up and turned to the lake stretching out in front of them. "POKÉMON MASTERS, NO MATTER WHAT!" _

~*~*~*~*~*~

Blinking out of his own little dream world, Jiu noticed that Dusty was shocking Happy, who was using PoisonPowder to refract the electricity.

"Hey! Dusty! Don't breathe in the powder – get through it and use a Thunder attack!" 

"Rai!" Nodding his head in agreement, Dusty the Raichu and Pikachu's boyfriend pinched his small black nose closed, used his Agility to speed through the fine poisonous particles, leaped up behind a defenseless Happy, and, in freaky sense of Déjà vu to Richie, clung onto her foot, cheeks sparking, and-

"Rai-CHUUUUU!"

Crackling yellow bolts of lightning blazed in the field, and painfully coursed through Happy's veins, causing the bug to wail, and then Happy the Butterfree fell to the grass at a panting Dusty's feet, thin tendrils of smoke hissing from its wings, and then the Referee raised the green flag, and stated the obvious – that Butterfree was defeated. Then the hyperactive announcer screamed down the microphone about how incredible it was that the defending trainer had made such an exciting comeback and this was the most exciting Orange final he'd ever seen.

_Funny_, thought Jiu. _He's said that every other time I've been here._

Richie cursed loudly, and a mother in the front row covered her impressionable, 7-year-old son's ears, before grabbing the black-and-blue Pokéball containing Jellybean and chucking it to the pitch dejectedly. He'd fought so well and it would all be over with the next Thundershock. A low, rumbling growl indicated that Jellybean was out of his Pokéball, and the sphere made its reappearance to its owner by slamming itself into Richie's face. Stumbling backwards, and rubbing his reddened nose, he slammed the ball back onto his belt, before getting back to the front of the podium in time to see his rival tell the Raichu that Tentacruel was exhausted, and that one shock should finish it off, and the Raichu nodded with a cheerful syllable of "Chu!" and clenched his little paws, squinting his eyes and sparking up his cheeks. Richie closed his eyes as Raichu charged up.

"Raiiiiiiii--- Chu? Rai-CHU?!" Raichu's puzzled chatter caused Richie to bravely open one eye, expecting to see a frazzled heap of Tentacruel on the floor… but instead, there was a tired, but nonetheless fit Tentacruel, and a puzzled electric mouse complaining to his trainer. Dusty had no electricity left. All of a sudden, Richie's world seemed to brighten up again. A Raichu without electricity was like a Charmander without its tail. 

Jiu clamped his hand in his mouth, and bit his nails in a bid to calm himself down a little. The only two non-electric attacks Dusty knew were Body Slam and Seismic Toss, and he looked exhausted and weak, and there was no physical possibility a Raichu could lift up a 7ft Tentacruel, and a Body Slam would bounce Dusty right into the scoreboard. Maybe… maybe the best thing was just for Dusty to faint… It would be the first time he'd done ANYTHING like that – leave a defenseless Pokémon in a battle, but if he called back his Pokémon, the match would be declared null and void and he'd have to go through this again…

"Jellybean, use Poison Sting!"

Tentacruel raised the evil-looking sting on it's face until it loomed over Dusty, who took a few, faltering steps back, before it descended… Jiu covered his eyes, and then-

"Raichu has been defeated!"

He looked up, and Raichu lay, with a huge bruise forming on his back, facedown at the mercy of Richie's final Pokémon. Pikachu, awakened during the battle and now perched on Jiu's shoulder, let out a mournful howl.

He recalled the fallen Pokémon without any further hesitation. Now all he had left was a young Espeon, newly evolved and with only two novice PSI attacks under her belt – Confusion and Psybeam.

But what other choice did he have? The lilac-and-white Pokéball almost begged him to take hold of it, and he hefted the sphere and, with a final prayer for victory, pitched it into the arena.

The lilac, almost cat-like Espeon burst out, and lifted a dainty paw to her face and began to clean herself in a feline manner.

"This'll be EASY! Jellybean! Use Hydro Pump!"

"Confusion!"

Before Jellybean had a chance, livid purple and blue waves of psychic power came from the evolved Eevee, and Jellybean felt really dizzy, his eyes going swirly, and the Eastern stand got an early shower.

"Jellybean! What the heck are you DOING? Get the Espeon, Tackle now!"

"Espeon! Use Metronome!"

Lilac whiskers twitched in time with lilac ears, as the owner swayed sensually from side to side, until she glowed with a cyan hue, and huge waves of powder flowed from nowhere, and enveloped both Jellybean, and Richie's final chance at winning, into a deep sleep.

That was it. Match over. The referee (who the author will now refer to as Bob. She has no idea why. Blame Cherry Cola.), raised the green flag and declared Jiu the winner, and the Tracey-voiced announcer went hysterical, as usual, screeching to the crowd about how this was the 20th time Jiu had defended his title etc. etc. … And Richie just sat in his little box, stunned silent, watching the thin stream of energy trickle into the round ball in his hand, watching his former opponent dance in the box hugging the Pikachu excitedly, and he felt so goddamn depressed…

It hurt, losing did.

Hurt a lot.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Setting Pikachu down carefully, he faced the crowd, waved, then grabbed his Pokéballs and made his usual beeline for the Pumello Pokémon Center, and the resident Nurse Joy and Chansey and/or Blissey. He threw himself into a nearby seat, scratching his nose and lazily tickling Pikachu on her stomach – force of habit. He'd been doing that since, well, since forever, or so it seemed. The first night of his Pokémon journey, sleeping in the Viridian Police Station, still filthy with dust from the rubble of the now derelict Pokémon Center, with… Misty lying opposite him, Pikachu curled into a ball against his chest… 

He blinked back tears before they even had a chance to arrive.

Time and memories were cruel.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_"I… I did it! Oh my God I did it! Pikachu, we did it!" a 14 (and a half, as he constantly and irritably reminded Misty every day) year old Ash yelled from the red box he was stood in, and then tried to kill himself by throwing himself from the railings. If Brock hadn't sent out Geodude and caught him by the seat of his pants… Misty sighed; Pikachu and the egg-bastard chuckled, and Ash, now leaping about and jumping excitably in front of the camera yelling various greetings to Pallet and his mother, felt as though he was unbeatable. He grabbed the GS Ball from his waist._

_"Haha! Officer Jenny was right! It IS a lucky charm!" He waved the gold and silver ball in front of the camera erratically, and dangerously close to the lens, making the JohtoNews cameraman backed away precariously. "Hey mom! Professor Oak! I just won the Johto League!"_

_He spun around to face his friends, eyes sparkling. "Check it out guys! You're both now looking at the Johto League master! Anyone want ice cream?! My treat!"_

_Grinning, Ash charged off, in search of the nearest ice-cream __parlour, yelling to Pikachu that he wanted peach-and-chocolate __flavour and chocolate-chips with nuts and cream and other things that contained more calories than the daily diet of a Snorlax, and Pikachu yelled something along the lines of "I want ketchup-flavour!" while scrambling up his leg, across his chest to end up on his right shoulder, and grabbed a Pika-fist full of coarse black hair to prevent herself from falling, and Pika-kissed Ash on the cheek._

_"Hey, Pikachu, knock it off!" he laughed, pulling his shirt-sleeve down and wiping his cheek, before making a full-blown sprint to the Delibird Ice-cream parlour._

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Pika-Pi?"

He looked seriously but fondly into the Pokémon's eyes. "You know you can't call me that no more, Pikachu…" He softly stroked the little yellow mouse's ears, running his thumb over the course dark fur at the tip.

"PIKA! Pikapi, pi-PI, Pika-CHU!" Her dark, inquisitive amber eyes narrowed dangerously as she told her Pikapi EXACTLY why she called him that, choking his eyes with tears.

"You can't, Pikachu," he whispered, "and you know why you can't."

"Pikapiii…"

"Stop it!" he hissed, running a hand through his blond-on-blue fringe nervously, "I said stop!"

Big, sorrowful brown eyes stared up at him sadly. "Pikakachu, Pikapi, Pika-pika chu cha pika…"

And, pushing herself down his shin to the floor, and waddling off awkwardly due to the huge bump in front of her, Pikachu walked over to a Chansey and had herself taken into the back room with Dusty without a second glance to the best friend she'd ever had. And Jiu didn't have the heart to walk over and stop her. What she'd said was so clear and sharp and painful to him…

**_"You know who you really are, Pikapi, and I know that too…"_****__**

_ _

_~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~__*~_

Aaaand CUT! Okay, people, that's a wrap! J/K. Please don't be worried if the next part is in lime green, I'm just sick to death of the colour pink now. 

About the first flashback. Due to the fact that my dog decided it would be fun to chew Each And Every One of my 20 videotapes of Pokémon, (little bastard), I have NO episodes on tape any more, so I can't remember what Richie said exactly in "Friends To The End", so it may not be right or not.

I apologize deeply for this crappy chapter, which was, according to Word2000, 6 Pages of a battle. Geez…Also for the sucky names I gave Richie's new Pokémon, but be fair. WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO NAME A SCARY-ASS, TWO-HEADED GIRAFFE?!?!

A-hem. So, unless you want a Togepi **firmly** attached to your arse, I suggest you review. Now! Go on! PLEASE!!!

   [1]: http://www.kabalarians.com/male/jiu.htm
   [2]: http://www.kabalarians.com/male/ash.htm



	4. ~*Part Four*~

Part four, minna! Hope y'all like it!

I don't own Pokémon; it now belongs to a bunch of Sumo Wrestlers, after one of them passed wind in Nintendo HQ and caused a mass evacuation. What? You thought Snorlax was based on Vanessa Feltz?? Hell no!

Basically, I'm only 15 and don't weigh 700lbs, so no, I don't own Pokémon.

Also, this is NOT an Original Trainer fic, because they piss me off big-time. Ash = Jiu. Jiu = Ash. It's a false identity thing. Comprendez?

Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed the last 3 chapters! No Togepi shall attack you tonight! If you DIDN'T review, (and why not?! *Pouts* I'm quite offended!) then just be careful next time you go to the fridge and see that little huevo that looks just a LITTLE different than the rest…

Ja mata ne, minna-chan!

Oh, and this part is dedicated to one of my bestest friends on the planet – Joe, cuz it's his birthday today! (12.3) Happy 15th, Sparky-Sama!

~*~*~*~*~*~

*SugarSweet

~*~*~*~*~*~

_PartFour_

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Sign there… and… there… Oh, and there too."

Long red painted nails stabbed the pale purple sheets where a black 'X' had been scrawled carelessly, and Jiu sighed, picking up the pen she threw at him, scrawled his name carelessly at yet another contract signing him up for slave labour for the next two years, replaced the pen on the side and stood. 

"Can I go now?" he asked tiredly, brushing off imaginary dust from his jeans and straightening the cuffs of his jacket, and met the cold, bored eyes of the blonde League Official.

"No." she replied flatly, and pointed back at the seat. "Sit."

Jiu frowned, then complied, then sat, looking at his watch and scowling.

"About your next _publicity_ stunt," she purred, stressing the word like a Persian, "I trust there won't be any problems with staying in Kanto, right?" Her eyes narrowed, and they flashed menacingly, making the Pokémon Master feel intimidated for the first time in four years.

He gulped. "No, ma'am."

"Good," she purred again, and bared overly bright, white teeth into a Hollywood smile, "Cerulean Gym, at twelve-thirty next Saturday." Jiu gasped and felt an icy grip tighten around his stomach. "Is that okay?" she snapped,

"Cerulean?! Are you sure? I mean, can't I do something else? I mean…"

"No." she stated bluntly, looking at her nails instead of him, "The Cerulean Gym Leader specifically asked for **_you_** to be there for the premiere."

"Premiere?" he asked dumbly

"Of the latest water-ballet." Visions of a seashell bikini and a blue tail flashed through Jiu's mind, as well as a lavender-haired man in a ballerina costume and a Dewgong… then were squashed down desperately in a useless attempt to keep old feelings at bay.

"Are you okay?" she snapped, the usual inquiry seeming more like a chore than a question.

He blinked, shaking off the weird, foggy, dazed feeling he got whenever he reminisced, and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I am. Um, could you tell me something?"

"What?"

"Who's the Cerulean Gym Leader now? I mean, last time I went, it was a few years ago and it was that blonde one." The name escaped him, a flower, a white flower, a small flower, but… He couldn't place it, which alarmed him. He'd always been good with names. He used to be able to rattle off the names of everyone who was in his pre-school class, or of all the people he'd met on his journey…  
"Daisy?"

He nodded. "Yeah, her."

"There are four of them now. They take shifts, although one's just came back from the Orange Islands, so that's why they're doing this premiere."

"Orange Islands?" _I don't like the sound of this…_

"Yeah, she's been training with Prima for a year. She's the youngest,"  
_Oh boy…_

"What's her name?" He kicked himself for asking that question. He already knew the answer.

"Misty."

_Damn!_

_ _

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lazily, the fourth Cerulean Gym Leader floated idly in the main pool, a Poliwhirl, Starmie, Staryu and a few other aquatic Pokémon amused themselves by playing tag in the various props to be used tomorrow, and a small chicken-type Pokémon toddled along the poolside. The pool had a see-through dome over the top, she noticed, that hadn't been there since she was last here… The sky was clear, only the slightest wisps of clouds being chased along the endless blue like dust. Pictures adorned the turquoise walls of past shows, going from the 1950's onwards, when her grandparents hosted the first show. They ranged from Staryu's and Starmie's dressed up in the "Hippie flower" styles from the 60's, to a Totodile with a spiky haircut from the 80's, to a picture of her sisters aged about nine or ten for the 90's, then to…

Then to a picture of her sisters and herself, aged about thirteen, smiling prettily, wearing a blue mermaid tail with yellow stars. A Togepi was curled in her arms, and her hair was brushed out down to her waist, with a Pikachu resting in Daisy's arms. A green-gloved hand in the background could just be seen over Violet's head giving a peace sign.

Ash…

They never found him – dead or alive. Everyone assumed he was dead; his obituary was printed in papers all across Kanto, Johto and the Orange Archipelago, and even further. The Pokémon League held a memorial service a year after, when all hope had been abandoned of ever finding him. Hundreds of people attended, most she knew, others she didn't. Joy's, Jenny's and Gym Leaders from all over the country came, the Elite Four of both the Johto and Kanto-Indigo League attended, Bill, Snap, Richie, A.J., Giselle, Joe, Samurai, Sparky, Mikey, Pyro and Rainer, Duplica even dared to show her face. Hell, even GARY came along. People who knew Ash from school, people from Pallet came… The service was extremely emotional. She'd sat at the front, in between Brock and Tracey, and was confronted with his picture, which she just _couldn't_ look at. She had blamed herself for his… death. His death… It felt weird, detached even, to think that. Ash couldn't be dead. There was just… no way. Jenny's spoke of how he'd helped them in various investigations, the one with the Spinarak especially. Joy's spoke of how cheerful he could be, and how much he cared for his Pokémon. Professor Oak and his mom spoke, in fact, everyone spoke except for herself and Tracey, who couldn't think of anything to say either, who, having never been much of a big speaker in the first place, the prospect of speaking on front of over 200 people was too daunting.

As they were clearing the hall after the service, Duplica in false, loud, noisy tears, Brock had his arm around Misty's shoulder leading her out, and sitting in the back row was a small teen with blue hair, standing in proud spikes on his head, seated in perfect silence, eyes fixed on the front of the chapel. 

Of course, three months after the service, they found their 'proof' that he was dead. They'd found his jacket at the foot of the cliffs by Bill's Lighthouse covered with his blood. It was assumed that the tide had taken his body out to sea. The verdict was suicide – that he'd cracked under the strain of being Pokémon Master, tried to hide, and eventually given in, and taken his own life.

And she had blamed herself for it. It took Cerulean's most expensive psychiatrist to alleviate the guilt, and after that she'd left to train with Prima…

Maybe he'd still be alive… if she hadn't been such a total bitch to him the last day…

~*~*~*~*~*~

(A/N- Oh come on! I'm going for a flashback in EVERY part!)

_His head bowed, Ash pulled his hat from his head and twisted it round and round until it was virtually a knot. He raised his head, his eyes flashing with total anger and the utmost betrayal as he hardened his glare and choked down tears that a teenage boy should never cry._

_"You have NO right to talk to me like that, Misty," he said, dangerously quietly, and furrowed his brow. She laughed sarcastically. _

_"Why? Oh, lemme guess. 'You're the Pokémon Master'? Big deal." she scoffed, and glared right back at him, ignoring Togepi's babyish pleas as to why Mommy was fighting with Daddy._

_Still suppressing his tears, and trying to keep a calm look on his face, he replied "Because we're friends, and friends shouldn't act like this to each other, Misty." He shot a pleading glance to Brock, who stood to the right of them, arms crossed, a serious look on his face. "Brock, back me up here!" But Brock simply shook his head and focused his gaze on a far-off tree. "But…"_

_He faced Misty again, who had one hand on her hip, the other by her side. Togepi was crying to Pikachu, big, babyish, tearful sobs and gulps, while Pikachu shot an evil glare to her trainer and Misty._

_"How the HELL did YOU manage to be a trainer ANYWAY?" she yelled, an arrow shooting him in the heart, "You're the WORST trainer I have EVER met!"_

_A stinging, crushing sensation settled in his chest, though he did not let it show on the exterior. She hadn't called him that for almost three, maybe four years…_

_"That's NOT true, Misty. If I was a bad trainer, I wouldn't have-"_

_"Won the Johto, Orange and Indigo Leagues, Ash, you say that ALL the time…" she interrupted, yawning and inspecting her fingernails. He was about to protest and she held up a finger to silence him. "You won on **luck**, Ash."_

_"I didn-"_

_"If Pikachu hadn't gotten on Dragonite's head, you would have lost. If Cyndaquil hadn't lit his flame at the last minute against Vileplume, you would have lost. And if Gary's Umbreon hadn't missed with that Hyper Beam, you would have lost."_

_"That's not true, and you KNOW THAT!"_

_"Liar! All you've **ever** done is lie, Ash!"_

_"NOT TRUE!" he yelled, anguished. Why wouldn't she just understand?  
"YOU'RE LYING NOW!" She slapped him across the face. Hard. The tears he refused to let fall were burning into the back of his eyes. The pain in his chest and heart felt like a Snorlax had curled up and gone to sleep there. The anger and injustice he felt was unbelievable. Why was he putting up with this… this torture?! "Ash, there's only ONE thing I hate more than bugs, and that's a liar."_

_"If I'm such a liar, why do you hang around with me then? Why are you my friend?"_

_"God knows." was the scornful reply, and she turned her head from him._

_Ash finally gave up. Brock wouldn't help him; Misty's heart was closed to him. "Then I shouldn't stay here then," he told them, still twisting the red cap in his hands. "I QUIT!" he suddenly yelled, and he grabbed his backpack and hoisted it onto his shoulders, beckoned Pikachu to his arm, and threw his hat to her feet. "Consider THAT as payment for the bike," he spat, and walked forcefully away. It took a few moments to register with her that he had actually gone, and when she shouted him… he was already gone…_

_ _

~*~*~*~*~*~

And that was it. The last time she saw Ash Ketchum alive. The last known contact anyone had had with him was when he sent his resignation letters to all three Pokémon Leagues, and he just disappeared. 

He was never found… and all that was left of him was his dusty old cap kept by his mother in Pallet, a bloodstained, battered, torn jacket and a lot of memories, both painful and otherwise.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

In the mountain-locked city of Blackthorn, Johto, Jiu smiled wistfully, safe in the comfort of his apartment, Pikachu asleep in his lap, and trailed a long finger along the pink and purple scar running down his left palm.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Okay, part four is DONE! And Misty was in it! 

Made no sense, hai? Gomen! I'll try to make the next part better – if you're still interested, that is.

Be honest, who thinks I should do a psychotically evil-type Pokéshippy fic? Or something else? Review me your suggestions. (Gomen, Gymshippers, but Brock's already with a Joy, if you'll refer back to, um… Part one, I think! Yeah, part one.) Anyhoo, read, review, and be saved from the clutches of Togepi until the next fic is out!

~~ Ja ne, Minna-sama!

~~Chuchino, 12.3.01 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!)


	5. ~*Part Five*~

Allo! Wow, I'm writing a LOT of fics in a few days! Well, okay, I wrote three. And two were half done anyway. But still! It's nice to be able to TYPE, and not scribble in the middle of my Chemistry books…

This be part 5 of Sugar Sweet* (I LOVE that little star thingy!), and I don't own Pokémon.

Please, people, I beg of you. PLEASE read "Walking Away" before you read ANY of this story. It might not be very good, but it IS the basis of this story, so if you don't know what the hell is going on, go back, read WA, then read this fic again, and if there are any problems, tell me by reviewing, or by e-mailing me on [chuchino5@hotmail.com][1] I won't bite! If there's something you don't understand, it's my fault, so if you tell me, I'll either fix it or explain it! But no asking for what's gonna happen, okay?

Thanks and hugs and nice wishes on the peeps who have reviewed my li'l baby so far; Erina-Chan, Trish, Ronald J Whalen, Weltall_Elite, rcpika, magma and everyone else! Thank you so much! This part is dedicated to all y'all!

~*~*~*~*~*~

*SugarSweet

~*~*~*~*~*~

_PartFive_

~*~*~*~*~*~

Someone was moving.

Pikachu's eyes snapped open, and she pulled herself away from Dusty, plopped down to the floor, and waddled over towards the door. 

Someone was in the kitchen; someone walked into the table, yelped, swore, then moved cautiously over to somewhere – the fridge, or freezer or a cupboard. Pushing herself awkwardly through the half-closed door, and falling flat on her face in the hall, Pikachu indignantly plodded along the hallway, pausing when she heard a chair scrap in the kitchen again, a sigh, then silence. She crept stealthily along the wall as best she could and paused outside the kitchen door. Silence except for three sets of heavy breathing.

Three?

"Rai-chu?"

Pikachu shrieked and launched into a full-scale Thundershock, before Dusty put his paws over her cheeks and stopped the electricity-flow, then put a paw to his lips for silence.

"What are you two doing… sneaking 'round at this time of night…?" Jiu yawned; poking his head out of the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and gave a sleepy glare to the two mice Pokémon. "You should both should be in bed… 'specially you, Pik'chu… shouldn't be up… in your condition…" He yawned again, picked both of them up, and put them in their own room, before retreating to his own. He couldn't sleep. Every time he slept, he had a dream or a flashback or something. He'd gotten up for a drink of water to help, and it had, marginally, but now he didn't want to sleep.

It seemed like someone was punishing him for changing himself. Sending him torturous dreams of a past that he just wanted to forget, but inside, there was a small, ten-year old boy pleading with him not to forget, but to remember him, even though he never existed any more. The little boy was the one who leapt for joy when Pikachu called him "Pikapi". The one who ate more than a Snorlax. The one who gave Jiu the sudden urge to run in front of the nearest TV camera and jump and sing and scream and shout. There was that little boy, and a calm, collected fifteen-year old, who scolded the little boy for doing such things. The fifteen year old shouted at Pikachu when she called him "Pikapi". The fifteen-year old who thought that over-eating was disgusting. The fifteen-year old thought that dancing in front of a camera was stupid and foolish and could give them away at any second. But the fifteen-year old so easily forgot that he himself had danced in front of a camera. He had laughed when Pikachu had called him by her pet name. He had eaten three family-sized boxes of ice cream in one night, and he had also forgotten that he had been that little boy.

And then, refereeing their fights was a tall, twenty-one year old man, who was never sure which side to cheer from. He wanted to run in front of a camera, but knew he couldn't. He tried not to eat more chocolate ice cream than he knew he should, but that didn't stop him from buying two pots instead of one. He loved it when Pikachu called him that but knew that Pikachu had a unique name for their trainer, and it varied from Chu to Chu, and Professor Samuel Oak recorded "Pikapi" as being the codename between Pikachu for "Ash", and Ash only, and if Pikachu was ever caught calling him that, it would all be over.

At least in this life, the press didn't hound him as much as they had. The scandal papers occasionally ran a story about him, but as long as he was at their beck and call, 'Jiu Kaneda' was a perfect citizen of Johto.

It would have been nice, though, to have been able to stay on his old journey though… They were on their way back from Maiden's Peak summer festival when he left. End of summer was in about September – October, and they'd held it earlier, for fears of 'Hurricane Ryoko' hitting the small coastal town and damaging the Maiden's Rock and the shrine.

~*~*~*~*~*~

(And everyone on the planet sighs and shakes their heads at the fact that there is yet another flashback… I'M SORRY!! PLEASE FORGIVE chibi Chuchino!)

"_Welcome to Maiden's Peak, and to the 700th End Of Summer Festival!"_

_A blue haired girl with Hawaiian flower necklaces held out to passers by, walked over to them, and placed a garland on each of their necks, even snapping one in half, and tying it to Pikachu and Togepi. "I hope you enjoy your visit!"_

_She winked, then walked off, leaving Brock and anyone within a ten-__metre radius swimming in Brock-drool._

_Brock sighed, "She's stolen my heart! Someone, dial 911 and report a heartbreaker! Or call Officer Jenny – ooh! Officer Jenny…" He lurched off in search of the Maiden's Peak Police Station._

_"Hey, Ash, what time is it?"_

_"Dunno…" he looked out to the sunset, "although it must be nearly seven, eight 'o' clock now… What d'ya wanna do? Brock won't be back for a while – if at all. Jenny probably locked him up or something."_

_"Should we just go straight to the dance?"_

_"Dance?!" he groaned. "I can't dance! You remember last time we were here! I tripped over your obi and knocked half the people to the floor… 'Sides, I left my kimono at home."_

_"Then rent one."_

_"Everywhere will be sold out…" _

_"Then you can borrow one of mine."_

_"Ew! No way! Yours are all girlyfied and disgusting and-" he cowered away from the mallet, "they really, **really** suit you!" he simpered, hands up protecting his face._

_"Ash, you are going to this dance if I have to drag you there myself."_

_"Awww… do I have to? You're acting like my mom-OW!"_

Various tourists simply walked around the fourteen-year old, now sprawling over the pavement with a bump forming on his head.

*@~O~@*

Eventually, they were at the dance, in a small square near the shrine, and Ash was **finally** decked out in a plain, dark blue kimono with a dark jade obi, and he cowered in a corner, hiding away from the horrors of the dance floor. It wasn't just the fact that he couldn't dance, and loathed it and thought that whoever invented dancing should be stung up and beaten by a bunch of angry Tyrogue, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, Primeape, Hitmontop, Mankey, Machop, Machoke and Machamp, whether they liked it or not, because he said so, ha ha.

It was the fact of what **almost** happened last time they were here. Nursing a twisted ankle, and sitting on the wall overlooking the bay, both Ash and Misty had just been talking about anything, just as friends do. His insides felt like jelly and he didn't even want to stand, even if his ankle didn't feel like a bunch of knives were digging into each muscle. All because she was next to him. 

He'd known her what? Five months? If that, even, and he felt sick, but a good kind of sick, whenever he saw her. 

Which was practically every waking minute of every day.

Was it possible to be in… there was virtually no other way to say it – in love with someone after a couple of months? Ash had never, **ever**, as a rule, believed in all that love at first sight' crap, ever! He'd read what he could understand from various romance books his mom had got from the Pallet library, and either threw up on the spot, or laughed hysterically, and shown the book around school the next day causing kids from various grades to go into uncontrollable laughter.

And the last time they were here, she'd told him he was spacing out, and he immediately turned his attentions onto her, and she gave him a smile that sent his insides reeling. They were sitting so close, he thought, and tiny fireflies were dancing around in small groups near then. One settled on the sleeve of his green kimono, and he went to bat it off, but she stopped him, laying her hand on his and he could have sworn the air around heated up by a million degrees. She said the firefly was pretty.

He said she was pretty.

She asked what did he mean?

Ash opened his mouth to speak, and then, whether it was a blessing or a curse in disguise, Brock walked over to them to inform them that it was 10:30, and the Pokémon Centre curfew was still in effect, so "would you both get your lazy asses back there, because I was getting somewhere with Nurse Joy."

Ash practically ran back to the Pokémon Center, regardless of his ankle or not.

*@~O~@*

This time at Maiden's Peak was different. He was confident that if he got the chance, he'd tell her. He'd already kissed her, true, on a 'friendship' thing, (AN – See the LOOOONG flashback in, um, part, um… 2. Part two. There.) so there was little chance of her laughing in his face, not that she'd do anything like that anyway, but still… It was still a fear he'd come to face. There were endless possibilities. She could laugh at him, turn him down ever-so-politely, she could even tell him she was in love with Jesse from Team Rocket – god forbid…

He'd come out of hiding by now, and Misty was teaching him some simple dance steps to go with the music. He was holding onto her waist and **attempting**not to fall over. Not that he wanted to anyway. This was much better than REAL dancing. The words were caught in his throat, and his mouth was near her ear, and he was just about to tell her, when…

"Prepare for trouble!"

Team Rocket.

Brilliant.

Still, he was mostly glad of the intrusion…

She COULD have said she liked Jesse…

(Bloody hell… that WAS a long flashback… GOMEN!)

~*~*~*~*~*~

The door buzzer ripped through the apartment rudely, waking Jiu up with a jump, and he scrambled about with his covers, which were knotted around his legs. Eventually, he gave up, and hopped along to the door, the buzzer screaming all the while, thinking about how stupid he looked. He pressed the button to speak to whoever was there.

"Hello?"

Giggles, then a strong Southern accent burst through the speaker. "Is that the Pokémon Master?"

Oh boy… "Yeah, that's me. Who's this?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be dragging your sorry ass down to Cerulean right now, but I'm guessing that you aren't even dressed, right?"

"So? I just woke up! Am I supposed to sleep in my clothes or something?"

"Yep!" more giggles. "You're a **star**, honey! You gotta be ahead of the rest! So why don't you let li'l old me up there while you get dressed, 'k?"

Jeez… she's forward… "Um, okay. Come on up."

He pressed the button to release the door catch, and then dragged the duvet's evil, Egg-like clutches off of his legs and fell backwards into the wall. He sprinted down to his room and grabbed a pair of tracksuit pants before running back up and opening the door when a pair of clacking heels echoed on the stairs. A dark-haired woman with a hairband with alien antennae attached to it bounded up the stairs, wearing a Jolteon pendant, earrings with dangling thunderbolts, and a loud pink jacket.

"Hiiii!" she drawled, "I'm Candy – I'm your new publicity manager, darlin'! Go get yourself dressed and I'll put some coffee on, okay, hun?" She pushed past him through the door and squealed at Dusty, who was peering innocently at the scene in front of him from behind his trainer. "Ooh! A Raichu, I just **adore** them! He's so cute and adorable, Oh my God a Pikachu too! Oh, he's so cute as well!"

"Um, Pikachu's female, ma'am."

She batted his hand away when he was about to pick Pikachu up. "Don't call me "ma'am". Sounds so formal! I already told ya, my name is Candy."

Jiu sighed. He wasn't in the mood for so much… chirpiness first thing of a morning. "Candy, then. Pikachu's a girl, but don't pick her up, okay?"

"Why not?"

"She's in a delicate condition."

"She's pregnant?! Oh, that's so CUTE! Is your Raichu the father? When's she due? How many is she having?"

Need caffeine… "Dusty's the father, as far as I know, she's due next week, and she's supposed to be having five, and… I should go get dressed, right?"

"Yeah! You get your li'l behind dressed, and I'll make coffee, and then we'd best get goin' to Cerulean, right?"

"Right…" He turned around and headed for his room, grabbed a change of clothes and then to the bathroom. Candy turned to the two mice Pokémon staring at her with unblinking eyes and suddenly felt a little bit nervous. Then Pikachu giggled and sniffed her ankle, nodded to Dusty, and both of them scampered off to the kitchen.

After a few moments deliberation, Candy followed.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why the long face, darlin'?"

Jiu continued to stare at a bunch of rocks as they navigated the treacherous mountain road to New Bark.

"All ya've done is stare out of that there window. A rock is a rock, right? Hon'?"

"Pika!"

"Rai!"

Blinking, he tore his gaze away from the fascinating rocks and boulders and faced the green antennae that adorned Candy's head.

"What?"

"Gosh, darlin', all ya've done is stare at those rocks! Excuse me from interrupting a Science Project or somethin', but we've got things to talk about. And you'd better listen to me! I got my Pokémon an' I'm not afraid to use 'em!"

"What Pokémon do ya have?" he asked lazily, showing some signs of life apart from the occasional sigh and/or blink.

She frowned. "A Jolteon, a Charizard an' a Smeargle at the moment, but I got more at home."

Smeargle. A Painting Pokémon. The mental image of the Pokémon with the brush at its tail conjured up images of an eight-month journey through tropical islands, and a Lapras, Misty and a boy wearing a pink headband…

"Hel-LO?! Are you even listening to me? Jeez, I break my neck getting here from Goldenrod, and ya don't even know I exist! Candy, girl, why do you even BOTHER with this job?"

"Huh?"

She made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat, "Forget it, hun."

"Okay…"

He continued to stare out of the window, all the way through New Bark, and only tore his eyes away from the scenery when they passed the sign saying "Welcome to Kanto! Please Drive Carefully and enjoy yourself! Home of the Indigo League of Pokémon!"

He sighed again, and Candy threw her bottle of nail polish at him.

The next signpost read "Pallet Town, 15 miles. Viridian City, 2 ½ miles."

For some reason, he had an urge to jump out of the car and run.

All the way to Pallet.

All the way… home…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Done! And in no less than what? Three days? WOW! 

Oh yeah…

To the person who **STOLE** my idea: I know who you are, and if you're reading this, **YOU** know who you are as well. I'm not even going to **MENTION** who you are, because you don't deserve these pixels. This is just a message to **ANYONE** who does this to me. Plagiarism is the **MEANEST** thing you can do. It took me **AGES** to work out the plot line for this story, and I do **NOT** appreciate you simply walking along and taking it for yourself. It is selfish, unkind and cruel, and you have just lowered yourself to the lowest level by doing this to me. 

Next time you write a story, would you like **ME** to copy **YOUR** idea? Steal your storyline? No? Well keep your fingers to yourself in future, and make up your own plot line, and **NOT** someone else's.

Thank you.

That note aside, please! R+R!

Don't worry if you hate Candy. She's just a figment of my diseased imagination and an overdose on Pepsi.

Should I still continue with this? Review and tell me! CC is good also!

Tenchi and Ryoko forever!!

Ja!

~~ Chuchino, 16.3.2001

   [1]: mailto:chuchino5@hotmail.com



	6. ~*Part Six*~

If you're only just reading this now, PLEASE, go back and read Walking Away, and then come back to this. I've gotten a few e-mails and reviews from people who got lost in this, and hadn't even read the prequel. READ THAT FIRST!

Don't own Pokémon, don't own any of the respective characters and monsters, except those I invented myself – namely Candy (A figment of my diseased imagination, I assure you. Too much homework… If she were real, I would shoot her).

I also do not own "Kimi o Nosete" (Carrying You), which is the theme tune for the motion picture "Tenkuu No Shiro Rapyutaa" (Laputa, Castle In The Sky), which belongs to Hayao Miyazaki (the BEST anime-type dude EVER!). It's an amazing song. Anyone who has Napster, look me up (my name is **_Sakashipper_**), and download it from me. And say "Hi" as well. I don't bite!

Anyhoo, how are ya's all? Having fun? Hope so! Could you all do me a LITTLE favour, and review? Please? It's just that if you review and tell me what you think, I can write better stories, and I want my stories to be the best that they can be, not just only half-good. So review, because you're all doing me a favour by doing so!

~*~*~*~*~*~

*SugarSweet

~*~*~*~*~*~

_PartSix_

~*~*~*~*~*~

The car slowed to a halt outside a middle-of-nowhere petrol station, waking Jiu out of daydreams and various random thoughts with a jolt. Still half in a dream land, he turned to the front seat, where Candy was cursing, while trying to pull the key out of the lock.

"What's goin' on?" he asked, dark eyes scanning the outside, painted with cars, petrol pumps and various people going about daily business.

"Nothin', darlin'! Just stopping for some gas, then it'll only take us about half an hour to get to Cerulean!" she replied, flashing a grin as she went to open the car door.

"Want any help?"

She froze, and then swung around, eyes flashing like a raging demon. "You step outta this car, an' I swear, I'm gonna kick your ass all the way to Cianwood and back!"

"Whoa! Chill out! I was just asking! What's the big deal?"

Candy whipped a checklist out of nowhere, and then proceeded to tick each individual box when she made a point. "First off, you're famous, hun. People **like** famous people. You step outta this car, an' they won't leave you alone! They'll want autographs, your hair, Hell, I once looked after a movie star and he went out in public. Girls attacked him, one got his pants off of him, an' they were never seen since." Jiu burst out laughing but was silenced by a glare from Candy. "Second of all, see that girl over there? Yeah, that one with the sandwich board saying 'Pokémon Trainers must be shot'? That, my li'l darlin', is a Pokémon Rights Activist, crazy fool. You step outta this car, and I swear, you'll end up with that board of hers over your head. And third of all, you keep your cute li'l butt in this car, because **_I_** said so! Okay?"

"Yes ma'am."

"And call me Candy!" she yelled, before slamming the door to the car, and wrenching the pump from it's stand, forced the nozzle into the tank and watched the little numbers flick by.

"Yes ma'am…" he muttered, resting his chin on his hand and scratching Pikachu behind her ear, who purred and tapped her foot on the seat.

"Chuuuu…"

"Sooner we get to Cerulean, the better, eh Pikachu?"

"Pikachupi?"

Jiu shook his head strongly. "No, not cuz of that. The sooner we're in Cerulean, the sooner we can leave."

"Chaaaa…"

~*~*~*~*~*~

(Yes! ANOTHER Chuchino-patented flashback! ^_^ This one will be slightly out of sync with the rest. Gomen!)

__

_"I wanna be a Poky-mon master, Nana!"_

Four-year-old Ash giggled as he sat in his grandmother's lap, hugging a stuffed Wartortle, while watching "Battle-Robot Kabigon" on TV.

_The older, Oriental woman looked at her grandson with a wrinkled smile that echoed kindness._

"Are you sure, Ash? A Pokémon Master requires a lot of work. Why don't you be a doctor or something?" she replied, trying to get him to change his options. It wasn't healthy for such a young boy to set his life out when he was barely in Kindergarten.

_"Don't care, Grandma. I wanna be a Poky-mon master. And I'm gonna be really, um, um…" He raised pleading eyes to the older lady, searching for a word he couldn't find._

_"Famous?"_

_"Yeah! I'm gonna be Fay-mouse, an' I'll have a huge house, and you an' Grandpa c'n live in it, and so can momma and poppa and all my Poky-mon, cuz I'm gonna be the Poky-mon master! I'm gonna get every single Poky-mon on the planet!"_

_"All 151?"_

_He grinned cheekily, hair sticking out in all directions and a chocolate smear by his mouth, dotted with cookie crumbs. "Yeah! All hundred-fifty-one! And I'm gonna find the ones that don't exist too! I'll even build a, a **spaceship** to find them and get all the ones that live on Earth-"_

_"Darling, we live on Earth!" Grandma chuckled, and ruffled his hair._

_"Oh… well, um… what's another planet, Gran'ma?"_

_"Jupiter?"_

_"Yeah!" he yelled excitedly, "I'm gonna get all the Poky-mon from Jupiter and every planet in the galaxy in my spaceship! There'll be so many Poky-mon that some of them'll hafta be brought here by Martians from Planet Martian, an' I'll have a huge house, won't I, Grandma, an' all my Poky-mon, they'll be my friends too, Grandma, all my Poky-mon c'n have their own room with-with a Nintendo an' a TV and robots that do anything you ask them too, an' I'll have a jungle-gym an' a huge bike, an' a big oba-stickle course for my Poky-mon to play in, and… Um… I forgot what I was gonna say now…" He stuck a finger in his mouth and sought about for various words, floating about in a sea of chocolate, Pokémon, bikes and mansions, as well as various floating Ninjas, numbers and letters._

_"Your house with the obstacle course…" she prompted,_

_"Uh-huh! An oba-stickle course and all those ropy-things soldiers climb on and I'll have a pool for all my Poky-mon and my house is gonna be so cool! You're gonna live there with me, right Grandma?" He looked up at her with huge, brown, innocent eyes, and it was hard for her, or anyone, not to smile._

_The older woman chuckled, smiling and ruffled his hair again. "I'll try, honey."_

_"'kay."_

_There was silence among the two as Ash resumed watching the final closing minutes of "Battle-Robot Kabigon", eyes glued to the screen, and his jaw slack as he watched the huge, robotic Snorlax kick bad-guy butt and "make Japan, and the universe, safe, once again,"_

_Then came the closing song, about how "Anyone can do it if they try hard enough", and Ash sang along __erratically, grinning at the pictures behind the words, yelling "I saw that one!" and trying to read the names as they sped up screen like Magikarp up a waterfall._

_As the lyrics died, and the commercials came on, Ash's mother came into the room with a blanket, smiled to herself at the scene, then walked over and pulled Ash into her arms, wrapping the blanket around him as she did so. He struggled slightly, but half-heartedly._

_"Don' wanna sleep." He protested, attempting to use puppy-dog eyes he'd not long discovered the effectiveness of._

_"Come on, honey, you know you need your nap now."_

_"No… Don't want to. I wanna stay here with Grandma."_

_Deliah frowned, and tried to ignore the grin on her mother-in-law's face. _

_"You need a nap, Ash." She stated, and sat him on the couch, wrapped the blanket tighter around him, and shoved a cushion under his head. "You can watch more cartoons with Grandma later."_

_"B-but momma! I wanna-" he was cut off by a huge yawn, and Deliah grinned victoriously. "Maybe I could sleep a little…" he mumbled, and grabbed the Wartortle teddy with a pudgy small hand, hugged it close, and yawned again._

_"Good boy," she smiled, kissed his cheek, then said, "Sweet dreams,"_

_"Night, mommy…" he sighed, eyes already closed, and Deliah walked out._

_A few minutes passed, Ash's grandmother shut off the TV and sat in silence, so as not to disturb her sleeping grandson with a protective sense._

_"Gran'ma?"_

_"Hmmm?"_

_Ash rubbed his eyes slowly. "Can't sleep."_

_She smiled, and pushed herself out of her chair awkwardly, and sat on the couch by Ash's head. His eyes looked up at her curiously. "You want me to sing you a song?"_

_"'kay."_

_Lifting his head slightly so it lay on her lap, she ruffled her hand through his coarse dark hair, watching sleepy eyes blink once, then twice, then start to close __altogether__. _

"**_Ano chiheisen kagayaku no wa_**

**_Dokoka ni kimi o kakushite iru kara_**

**_Takusan no hi ga natsukashii no wa_**

## Ano doreka hitotsu ni kimi ga iru kara

**_Saa dekake you hitokire no pan_**

**_Naifu, rampu, kaban ni tsumekonde_**"
    
    _ _

_Ash yawned deeply, rubbed his eyes with a small fist, murmured something, and snuggled closer to his grandma. She ruffled his hair again, and watched his eyes close altogether__._

**_"Tou-san ga nokoshita atsui omoi_**

**_Kaa-san ga kureta ano manazashi_**

**_Chikyuu wa mawaru kimi o kakushite_**

**_Kagayaku hitomi kirameku tomoshibi_**

**_Chikyuu wa mawaru kimi o nosete_**

**_Itsuka kitto deau bokura o nosete_**
    
    **_ _**

**_Tou-san ga nokoshita atsui omoi_**

**_Kaa-san ga kureta ano manazashi_**

**_Chikyuu wa mawaru kimi o kakushite_**

**_Kagayaku hitomi kirameku tomoshibi_**

**_Chikyuu wa mawaru kimi o nosete_**

**_Itsuka kitto deau bokura o nosete_**"

_ _

_Fast asleep, Ash smiled, mumbled the words to himself, and then chucked his Wartortle across the room, saying "Wartortle, go!"His grandma smiled, then, kissing his forehead, whispered "Good night, sweetheart. Sweet dreams about being a Pokémon Master."_

_ _

*@~O~@*

_ _

_Curled up in a cave, not far from Pallet Town, Kanto, fifteen-year-old Ash Ketchum lay, curled up in a ball, hugging a very-much alive Pikachu close instead of a Wartortle teddy, sleeping bag thrown carelessly over the two of them, watching the rain crash down outside the cave-mouth while trying to sleep with tears pouring down his face, and repeating the song words to himself as a re-assurance that no matter what happened, no matter what anyone did, he could do it._

_ _

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Okay! Everybody out, watch the Psyduck and get inside now!" Candy practically threw herself out of the car, and launched herself towards the Cerulean Hotel reception. Poking his head out of the door, and, to his annoyance, having his hair soaked through by the current thunderstorm that was attacking the skies, Jiu looked at his surroundings. Cerulean hadn't changed much, but what was he expecting? Hover cars and Teleporters? He snorted softly to himself. Yeah right. This wasn't _Star Trek_, where people went halfway round the world via a little blue light thingy. Aliens didn't fly around space with huge warships, did they? Or was there a secret Government cover-up, hiding secret files in a top-secret, bomb-proof room, somewhere in the FBI? Or was the information stored in Cyborgial memory-banks, and the Cyborgs could be anyone, his mother, Professor Oak, the dark-haired girl in front of him-

"When you've finished daydreamin', honey, _maybe_ we can go into the hotel. I ain't paying all this money for you to dilly-dally out here in the rain."

Candy turned on her heel, and stalked into the hotel reception, hair breezing behind and leaving a strong scent of perfume in her wake.

Blinking, and wrinkling his nose from the perfume cloud, Jiu pulled Pikachu into his arms, woke up a sleeping and grouchy Raichu who leapt onto his shoulder, and followed Candy inside while a valet took the car around to the back of the hotel.

Inside the hotel was a huge marble reception desk – Candy had obviously gone out of her way for no real reason – Jiu would have been happy crashed out in the storage cupboard of a local Pokémon Center – he'd done it before, but he wasn't about to tell her that. Why hurt her feelings? Grinning, he ran over to the desk, and yanked his key out of Candy's hand, almost snapping one of her (obviously fake) nails, and charged over to the lift.

Candy smiled at the gaping receptionist. "He's like this **_all_** the time. He's the Pokémon Master, doncha know?" she offered her hand to the blue-haired clerk. "Candy Azumi – PR agent."

No reply.

"Hellooooo?"

"He- he's the Pokémon Master?" the blue-haired girl ventured, weakly. Candy nodded. "Oh my God! I gotta call my mom! The Pokémon Master is in my hotel and I gotta call Katsuki and Ayeka and-and Shinsa and Oh my God!"

Candy frowned. People always got like this, but she'd learned through experience that it was better to tell the hotel staff whoever was here was here, which would save anyone finding out on their own, and calling every paper in the region.

"Look, missy, you don't call anyone, okay? Don't call anyone, and I'll see what I can do for you in return."

"Can you get him to kiss me?! Ohhh, he's so adorable…"

"I'll see what I can do," Candy replied with finality, and followed the hyperactive 21-year-old Pokémon Master up the elevator.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ugh. Maybe one day, I'll write more of the **story** and **not** the **flashback**. Ah well. So ends part 6 (and a crappy piece!) of *Sugar Sweet.

For anyone who wants to know, here are the English words to "Kimi O Nosete", which was Ash's lullaby-type-thing.

**_The reason the horizon shines_**

**_Is that somewhere it's hiding you._**

# The reason I long for the many lights

**_Is that you are there in one of them._**

**_So, I set out, with a slice of bread,_**

**_A knife, a lamp, stuffed in a bag._**

**_ _**

**_Father left me his burning desire._**

**_Mother gave me her eyes._**

**_The earth turns, hiding you._**

**_Shining eyes, twinkling lights._**

**_The earth turns, carrying you,_**

**_Carrying us both who'll surely meet._**__

The third verse is a repeat of the second. ^_^

I don't own this song, though I sing it a lot! It belongs to Hayao Miyazaki, and was originally sang by Inoue Azumi.

Now that's over and done with, I also apologise for a Star Trek reference, which was caused by a discussion in school between two Voyager fan-people (like myself!) about whether Captain Janeway and Ensign Kim would end up in the way of Ash and Chikorita. Á la bitch. *evil grin*

So, now you've read all this way up to part six, go forth and review this story! CC is much appreciated too, cuz I'm always looking for ways to improve! Either review here (I accept all of them!) or e-mail them to [][1], and I'll get back to you!

Review please!

~~Ja né!

Ooh, BTW… I got "Tenchi Forever!", the FINAL Tenchi Muyo movie… IT'S SO FRICKIN' SWEET!!! I even liked the BADDIE, in a way… Poor Haruna…

Highlight for spoiler: TENCHI AND RYOKO, SITTIN' IN A TREE!

Review and tell me how much it sucked!

   [1]: mailto:chuchino5@hotmail.com



	7. ~*Part Seven*~

Sugar Sweet* ~*Part Seven*~

Chuchi's AN: I apologise profusely for the delay, but I've had a lot of coursework to do, plus exams, plus other school-related crap and physiotherapy that involves me kicking a flipper around underwater for half an hour, thank you very much Alder Hey! ^_^'

And I also apologise for part 6 – someone reviewed and said it didn't go anywhere, and I'm sorry, I know, but I was planning on making this part a part of chapter 6, but hit writers block, so I just uploaded what I had. Gomen ne! I started a new webpage too – [click here][1], and check it out! ^_^

Usual disclaimer applies – I don't own Pokémon, neither do 4KIDS; it belongs to Nintendo Japan.

The anime movie "Princess Mononoke" (Mononoke-Hime) is copyright of Disney, Studio Ghibli (?) and Miyazaki Hayao. I _really_ suggest you watch that. If you haven't, go to [Anipike][2] and check it out.

By the way – I just noticed that I've been here a year and six days… O.O' I feel so old… ^^;

Ficcy part dedicated to Arrow-chan!

~*~*~*~*~*~

*SugarSweet

~*~*~*~*~*~

_PartSeven_

~*~*~*~*~*~

_ _

_ _

_"You want to **WHAT**?!"_

_Ash winced under the force of Deliah's yell and cowered into his jacket. "I… I know it's a little crazy, Mom, but-"_

_"But nothing! This- this is **beyond** crazy! Didn't I teach you to face your problems?! This is just hiding from them!" Ash scowled and actually dared to raise his voice._

_"It's **not** hiding from them, Mom. And as for facing up to them, I've been doing that since I left Indigo Plateau, and look where it got me!"_

_"But this is crazy!"_

_"So? You said that four years ago about Pokémon Training!"_

_"Pika!"_

_"Mime!"_

_The doorbell rang, Mr. Mime sprinted from the kitchen to answer, Pikachu tried to stop him, and Ash dived under the table whimpering. A few moments later, a vaguely familiar voice came through, then footsteps, and then a pair of blue-and-yellow trainers stopped next to the draping table cloth that was hiding Ash from being found. Someone lifted the pink cloth up, and Tracey grinned. "Hiya!" Ash scrambled to his knees, tried to get out from his confines and slammed his head on the underside of the table, sending Mimey's carefully arranged fruit bowl crashing to the floor, and Tracey into peals of laughter._

_"Dammit, Tracey, don't _do _that!" he grumbled, rubbing at the bump that was forming under his mess of hair._

_Grinning, Tracey apologised, and informed Ash that Professor Oak was on his way over as well._

_"Oh, great, why don't we invite the whole bloody town over? It's not like we have anything else to do," Ash grumbled sardonically, checking that the curtains were still drawn in the front room and walking over to the freezer and grabbing the nearest bag of frozen anything he could and ended up with a box of fish fingers precariously balanced on his head. "Owww…" he muttered. "How come you're here, anyway?"_

_"Your Mom called and ordered both me and the Professor around straight away. I only found out you were home a minute ago. The hiding under the table trick sort of gave it away. And besides, it got me out of analysing Pokémon, um, 'breeding habits'" Tracey replied, air-quoting 'breeding habits' with his fingers. "Honestly, it's gross. You have to inject the Pokémon with a pheromone, and then _watch_ them, well… y'know… It's Brock's ideal career if breeding falls through." Tracey scrunched up his nose, then adjusted his headband around his forehead, "So, why are you home, anyway?"_

_"I quit." Ash replied stoutly, frowning and crossing his arms, looking very comical with the box of fish still balanced on his forehead. "I quit training, I resigned all my posts as Pokémon Master and my Mom thinks I'm going psycho,"_

_"You WHAT?!"_

_"Not you too… Misty and me had a huge fight, she hates me, so does Brock because of all the damn papers, so I quit training, e-mailed all three Leagues yesterday telling them I resign and Mom thinks I'm going crazy because I want to go 'gallivanting around the country' under a different name, okay?"_

_Tracey's eyes widened, "That's probably the most cracked up thing you've ever said." he replied, matter-of-factly, in his normally calm voice that for some reason pissed Ash off to the extreme. "There's no way you could do that!" Ash shot him a look that clearly said "Wanna bet?"_

_"Why not?"_

_"B-because you just can't!" stuttered Tracey; clearly shell-shocked from the weirdness this day had turned into._

_"Go ahead, Trace'. Give me one good reason why I can't."_

_ _

~*~*~*~*~*~__

_ _

_"I can't believe I'm doing this…" Tracey murmured for the twentieth time that day, as he flicked the small, sharp object over the complex electronics in the back of Ash's Zukan._

_"I'm Dexter" it chirped, "A Pokédex programmed by Professor Oak-"_

_"Oh, shut UP!" he yelled, finally losing his normally cool temper with the red, plastic demon and slammed it against the kitchen table._

_"Any luck?" Ash piped up from his gruelling decision between the nine bottles of hair-dye lined up in front of him that Deliah had ran to the 24/7 chemist for. Tracey shot him dirty look. "Just asking," He resumed staring at the packages. "Blue, red, pink, yellow, green, purple, white, grey or orange?"_

_"Well, gee, the red would **really** bring out your eyes," Tracey remarked jokingly, "But the green kinda makes you look like my Scyther gone mutant, and the orange-"_

_"I get the picture, Trace'." _

_Tracey grinned, twisting the small instrument between his fingers thoughtfully. "Are you keeping your hair in the same style?" The way Ash paled indicated that he hadn't thought about that yet, "You can't keep it like it is."_

_"Why not?!"_

_"Because all it'd take would be for one ass with Paint on his computer to change the colour to black, and Boom."_

_"Um…"___

_"You could have it all up and spiky, but you **would** kinda look like Brock gone wrong"_

_"Ha ha. Not funny." Ash replied. "And I'm not using gel either. That just looks gross."_

_"Mm-hm…" Tracey had lost himself into the silicon maze again,_

_"I'm Dexter! A Pokédex programmed-"_

_"DAMMIT!" Tracey thumped the evil thing again. "Every time I get near the memory matrix, I trip the sound one instead…" Ash chuckled silently, and was silenced with a glare. "You aren't being little Mr. Helpful, you know. If you can't decide on hair colour, get your butt on the internet or find a Baby Name book or **something** so tomorrow, the Professor and I can start re-registering your Pokémon."_

_"But-"_

_"Ash! Please! This is freaking me out as it is!"_

_"Traceeeeey! I wanna get my hair done tonight! It's annoying me!" Tracey muttered a reply that Ash missed, "Huh?"_

_"I said you sound like Misty, whining like that, I- oops. Sorry. Didn't mean to mention the M-word." He added softly, responding to the sorrowful look on Ash's face, "This has cut you up… hasn't it?"_

_"Nah. I'm okay… So, c'mon! What colour, dammit! You're the artist here!"_

_"I'm an artist, not a fashion consultant, Ash, although I think you should use something dark. Matches your skin tone," said Tracey, finally giving up his fruitless battle with the Zukan for a few minutes._

_"Dark? Like what? I don't think my hair can go any darker as it is…"_

_Tracey paused. "Yeah, I guess. Oh well," he shrugged, " Bleach it, then dye it."_

_"Bleach?! As in toilet-bleach?!" Ash protested, hands covering his hair protectively._

_"Well, nothing as severe as that, but to get a decent colour over black, you have to bleach it, and **then** dye it. Hair dye is pretty similar to paint. Lighter tones don't go over darker ones. Has to be vice-versa"_

_"They don't? Okay… But… that doesn't answer my question. "Blue, red, pink, yellow, green, purple, white, grey or orange?"_

_Tracey facefaulted._

_ _

~*~*~*~*~*~__

_ _

_The next day, Tracey had to go to the Ketchum residence anyway, to give a 'very private, top secret letter' to Mrs. Ketchum. Of course, curiosity killed the Meowth, not the artist, and, seeing as Professor Oak hadn't bothered to seal the envelope, as usual, Tracey read it along the way, wondering how in Mew's name the good Professor could have such a dirty mind for such an old man._

_"You are SO dead," Ash greeted from the staircase, before dragging Tracey up to his room. Tracey then noticed the towel hanging off of Ash's head, obscuring most of his upper face from view, and the distinct scent of cleaner and peroxide gracing the house._

_"You… didn't," he gasped. Ash whipped the towel from his head, scowling like there was no tomorrow, and Tracey burst into peals of laughter. "You did!"_

_"It's not funny!" Ash protested, covering his head with his arms, "You told me to do it!"_

_"I didn't! At least I didn't tell you to raid Mr. Mime's closet! What did you use?!"_

_Sheepishly, Ash opened a drawer. Every type of cleaner he had found was stashed away. Bleach, oven cleaner, household polish was all in there and had played some part in the destruction of Ash's hair colour. Tracey was by now chewing the collar of his shirt to stop from laughing again, but when he saw the back of Ash's head in the mirror, he couldn't help it. The ebony black had gone, and in its place were white, grey, yellow, brown and variations on 'dirty white'._

_"Guess you won't have much trouble dying your hair now, Ash," he laughed_

_Ash chucked an empty bottle of bleach at him. "Shut _up_!"_

_ _

~*~*~*~*~*~__

_ _

Bored out of his mind while listening to Candy rabbit on and on and on and… you get the picture, about what he had to do in the Cerulean Gym and how to do it and who to do it to, where to be seen in Cerulean, who to be seen with ("TRY to get with one of the Gym Leaders, PLEASE! Although NOT one that's already dating,") and pretty much not to talk to anyone without HER sole permission. 

"… Is that clear?" she snapped, turning off the overhead projector she'd summoned from an unknown place and packing it away.

"I guess," mumbled Jiu, looking longingly at the room telephone and fantasizing about pepperoni, anchovies and ice cream. "Can we order a pizza?"

"Do you have ANY idea of the calorie content in pizza?!" she screeched, "You have to start taking more pride in your appearance!"

"But we could get a side-salad too… that's healthy…" Jiu whined, looking pitiful and pathetically at her, and she growled, muttering that it would all be his fault if she had a coronary tomorrow, snatched up the phone and paced around the room. Gazing furtively around the area, and realizing that no one present gave a damn, he felt around in his pocket, and drew something shining out of his pocket. The turquoise teardrop winked at him in the light, eliciting a smile to form on his lips. Fondly, he turned it over and read the inscription, a few letters that had a lot of meaning to him; _"A.K + M.W – F4EVA, '97"_ scratched carefully and minutely around the pin with a nail they'd found in the forest. Then he pulled an identical tear out, and compared the two. The newest one was a lot less sentimental, and was simply a different 'edition' of the badge, with the words "Cascade Badge" carved in green on the swell of the teardrop. He'd been petrified, the first time he'd been in Cerulean Gym. He'd started collecting the badges when he was 16, but something came up, and he and Tracey had gone to the Orange Islands to see Professor Ivy, and Jiu had just kept going around the extensive tropical archipelago, collecting the four main badges and beating the pants off of Drake and Dragonite again, but not again. The last time in Cerulean, he'd been paranoid. Thinking everyone was looking at him, someone knew who he was, there'd be someone who would recognise and expose him for who he **really** was… 

It was even worse in the Gym. All three sisters (Misty wasn't there, and he wasn't about to ask for fear of recognition) were as giggly and valley-girlish as ever, and he actually counted the amount of Valley-girl phrases they said during his 30-minute stay in the Gym. Ninety. He was glad just to pin the badge on the left side of his jacket and get the HELL out of that city, heading straight for the cliff top…

"Ya want olives?"

"Huh?"

"Are you in la-la land again, hon', or am I goin' ta hafta slap some sense into ya?"

He blinked, "Uh, olives, um, yeah. Olives, please. And anchovies," he added, rubbing his eye with his fist and yawning falsely. "Think I might… take an early night, if that's okay?"

"Sure, you need beauty sleep," she replied, replacing the receiver back onto the phone, and cracking her back.

"What're you trying to say? I'm not beautiful enough already?" he joked, before picking Pikachu up and settling her in his lap, scratching her oversized tummy and flicked through various channels, until he found a documentary about Pokémon Breeding and watching it idly, until the door went and he leapt up and practically mugged the bell-boy for the pizza and had eaten two-and-a-half slices before he was at the table, box in hand.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Running a comb through Pikachu's fur, wiping Dusty's nose for the fourth time and trying to pull a pair of moderately smart jeans on over his best trainers, Jiu was trying his best to look presentable, while hurrying, because the whole hotel room smelt like toast and peanut butter and was driving him nuts, because Candy wouldn't let him eat until he was dressed, acting one hell of a lot more like his mother than his agent.

"Rai-CHU! CHU!" Dusty sneezed, his tail straightening and his cheeks sparkling with each cough.

Dusty was coming down with the Electric flu, and Ash wasn't about to leave him behind, because if he stayed, Pikachu stayed, and he was NOT leaving Pikachu unsupervised when she had a week left in her pregnancy, because pregnant Pikachu were notorious for being 'unpredictable', and when Pikachu was 'normal', she was anything BUT predictable.

He'd been here one day and he was already longing to go back home to Blackthorn and his own apartment, with his nice bed and couch and computer games… He had one last temple to finish in Zelda and three masks to get, including Fierce Deity and come Heaven or High Water, he was going to kick some serious Skull Kid butt.

"Are you dressed or am I gonna hafta feed your dinner to Jolteon?!"

Jiu yanked his white T-shirt over his head, flattened the prickling static in his hair with his hand, teased the two blond streaks out and, acknowledging his reflection, walked out of his, Pikachu and Dusty's bedroom.

"Alright, I get the point, I'm dressed, okay?"

"Good," she replied, tossing a piece of toast at him, and grabbing her coat from its haphazard position over a chair. "Lets go, already!" Grabbing him by the wrist, she marched him indignantly out of the door, down to the lift and out into the Cerulean streets.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Like, welcome to the Cerulean Gym!"

"Yeah, we totally hope you enjoy the show!"

Jiu rolled his eyes. Things hadn't changed at all. Cerulean Gym was still Valley-Girl central, with bubbly 21-year-old women giggling like children over the "totally hot" hero in the latest action movie (David Duchovny [sp?] *drool*), or arguing over who had the most boyfriends in one go, or who was going to be the 'handsome prince' in the water ballet.

It was 1998 all over again for Ash. Sitting with Misty and Brock while Violet, Lily and Daisy 'acted' out the story of the 'Magical Mermaid' in front of them, before they started giggling over whether he was Misty's boyfriend yet, and then Misty stormed off in a huff, the Egg trilling evilly and giggling behind her…

"Like, we totally need to get you, like, fitted for your costume!"

"My WHAT?!" Jiu spluttered, finally giving his full attentions to the giggling girls in front of him. Daisy smiled patronisingly, twirling a long strand of blond hair around her index finger.

"_Costume_, like, mi amigo. You have to play like, the dashing, _totally_ cool hero!"

"Since _WHEN_!?"

Violet piped up. "Since we called up your agent and like, asked her, y'know?"

Scowling, Jiu turned around and looked at an overly innocent looking Candy, "Something you maybe forgot to tell me?" She shrugged and resumed her conversation with her mobile phone. Sighing, he looked inquisitively back at Daisy, "Alright, what do I have to do?"

"Can you, like, swim?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good. You have to play, like, Ashitaka in our water-show." Alarm bells went off in his head, clanging around all reasonable senses and trains of thought and sending Jiu spiralling into panic-mode.

"I have to play WHO?!" Daisy raised her eyebrows slightly. 

"Like, Ashitaka. God, haven't you seen, like, _Princess Mononoke_? He's like, the totally cool hero!" She blew a pink bubble using gum out of her mouth and popped it with a brightly painted nail. 

Jiu let out a sigh of relief, feeling all rapid tension drain quickly, "Oh, okay. I haven't seen that movie, so… Sorry."

"Like, that's totally okay. You can watch our copy, okay? We can lend you it. But before that, we have to fit you with your costume."

Violet and Lily giggled, before dragging him through the huge, blue-glass double doors towards the main pool and dressing room.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"How the hell am I supposed to fire arrows underwater?!" Jiu muttered to Pikachu, holding up an old bow and looking at it in distaste. "This costume is dumb."

"Chu?"

Blushing, Jiu whispered quietly, "These pants are giving me a wedgie"

"[Thanks for sharing]"

"Anytime." He frowned in concentration as he tried to tie his sleeves behind his back, "Could you give me a hand?" Pikachu responded with a look. 

"[I'd love to, Pikapi, but guess what? Unfortunately, I happen to be pregnant.]"

"Okay, okay. Dammit, how am I supposed to tie this?"

"You ask for help." A new voice entered the conversation, clear and smooth, not like Candy's southern, or Lily, Daisy and Violet's Valley-Girl. That left only one available option open, and he didn't like it. Slowly, he turned around, gulping slightly, and let his gaze settle upon her for the first time in eight years. She hadn't changed much. Big, sapphire blue eyes stared at him coldly, framed by lightly-tanned skin, which in turn was enclosed with reddish-orange hair.

She was still smaller than him, more so now than when he was fourteen. In fact, it seemed as if she hadn't grown at all, and if so, very little. A huge fur hung over her shoulders, soaking wet, and a thin blue dress was underneath. A mask was balanced on top of her hair, completing the picture. She smiled at him, "Are you the latest victim?" He nodded dumbly, unable to choke any words up. "Good. I'll show you the Pokémon you need in a minute." She walked over to him, who's eyes were dazed in a slow-motion, and he shivered when her hands rested on his shoulders and the wet fluff she was wearing tickled softly against his spine as she tied the sleeves of his costume together. "I know the costumes are dumb," she said to him, "But be nice – Brock spent hours on them." He turned around, pulling the rest of his shirt over his head and looked at himself in the mirror.

"I still think I look dumb," he murmured, "I look like a ten-year old."

"Ashitaka was about fourteen, so…"

"Who are you supposed to be, anyway?" he asked, looking pointedly at the mass of fur she had on and the ivory dagger she was carrying in her left hand.

"San. The Princess Mononoke, unfortunately. Daisy couldn't fit into the costume; I was supposed to be Lady Eboshi, but…" The blank look on Jiu's face told her that he had no idea who San OR Lady Eboshi were. She picked up his sword and tossed it to him. "Catch."

It clattered to the ground with a metallic clatter. Jiu blushed slightly, and she rolled her eyes. "C'mon," she said, walking towards the door to the main pool/arena. "Practise."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Having an underwater sword-fight wasn't Jiu's idea of sensible, but they seemed to know what they were doing. Violet was making changes to the script, Daisy was fussing over her kimono/bathing suit, and Lily was putting fur on the Lapras who had to play "Moro". Misty, thank God, had gone to answer a phone call and hadn't come back for the rest of rehearsal. He had been sitting on the edge of the pool; Pikachu in his lap while Dusty had buggered off to aggravate a couple of Starmie, basically wondering what the hell was wrong with him. Since he and Misty had gotten out of the changing rooms, he hadn't been able to speak to anyone, apart from short syllables or a noise that meant a word. Now, lying on his bed at the hotel, he frowned slightly, furrowing his eyebrows and twirling one of the blond streaks around his index finger. He felt so awkward, so out of place, so… wrong here. His skin literally crawled whenever someone looked at him, even when he was walking in the lobby downstairs.

It was just so Goddamn weird to be back here, for a water show, in the middle of Cerulean City again – somewhere he'd avoided like the plague for eight years, making pointless and unbelievable excuses concerning his grandma, a gerbil and a shopping trolley. And the first main thing he'd _done_ was _speak_ to the _person_ he'd avoided for eight years. What was he on? It was probably the stupidest and most dangerous thing he'd done so far, jeopardizing _everything_! He'd _seen_ the looks Daisy gave him; it scared the hell out of him. She had such a look of recognition in her eyes that had him mentally praying until he noticed the three-week old edition of _Hello_ on the Reception Desk.

"Pikapi…"

Pikachu was talking in her sleep, muttering various phrases she'd learnt off by heart and kept them close to it. 

"Pipipi, Pikachupi"

_Damn it, Pikachu. Stop it! Please…_ he begged silently, knowing how much trouble they could get in if she ever said those names in public. Ash had, inadvertently of course, made a lot of enemies, just like any other half-decent Trainer, who would stop at absolutely nothing to take his metaphorical crown. There was Gary, A.J., Mandy the 'Magnificent' who bombed out at the first round every time since Ash competed in the League when he was eleven, Samurai, probably, and… Richie.

What in Myuu's name had happened to Richie? He had changed so much to the kid Ash knew so well when he was a Rookie. Best friends, they were, and now Richie practically hated him and everyone else. Richie, whom the sun shone out of his behind, had somehow twisted into an angry young man with an overwhelming thirst for victory. Nothing seemed to make sense any more. A sharp pain tore up through his fingers and up his arm, and he cursed, suddenly realising he'd been biting his nails throughout his introspection; his index and middle fingers on his right hand were bleeding slightly and now very painful.

"God damn it…" he muttered angrily, more at himself for re-invoking a damnable habit that he'd weaned himself off painstakingly and painfully with tortilla chips and a foul tasting hand-lotion five years ago. He shook his hand frantically, before sucking the blood off it comfortingly, like a baby with its thumb.

Yawning, he rolled over slightly, kicked off his socks and yanked the covers over himself, closing his eyes and resolutely going to sleep.

Tomorrow was yet another day.

Survival was for the fittest and the better prepared, and he aimed to keep himself in that category.

~*~*~*Tsuzuku*~*~*~

Mwa-ha-ha!!! I'm baaaaaack! Miss me? Huggles and big apologies for peeps that seem to like this fic (You're all nuts!)! Inspirational and educational problems arose, and this sorta went on hold, but fear not, kawaii minna! I have HUGENESS in notes for chapter eight – all you have to do is wait for me to get my Chemistry exam paper back! Just kidding, well, kinda. I wrote quick notes for about two scenes on it, right next to a bunch of crap about polymers, which I didn't understand. The rest are in my Oblivion book, which is somewhere in my house. Somewhere, meaning in the big black hole that is our study. ^_^

Next Part: HUGENESS flashback time! I'm trying to get Jiu/Ash started on his new journey, but anyhoo – you'll have to wait and see! Oh yeah – the bad-guy is re-introduced! (Well, bad guy**s**… ^_^' ) And Brock gets dumped! And Tracey is just _damn_ sexy. But he is that anyway. Kenji = Highly sexual demon!

Ja, minna-chan! Huggles and love to ya all! (Yes, I drank caffeine today! I'm allowed to! I've been here a YEAR! You all owe me a hug!)

   [1]: http://www.virtue.nu/cabbitgirl/pikapower.htm
   [2]: http://www.anipike.com/



	8. ~*Part Eight*~ :: n e w ::

Sugar Sweet* ~*Part Eight*~

See? Told ya I'd get started on part 8! Although I write this A.N. before I start typing, so I have no idea when I'll finish it. ^^ Hopefully soon! ^^

Usual disclaimer – I don't own Pokémon, except for my lovely DVD of P2K, which, when played in French/Canadian, makes both Ash and Tracey sound extremely constipated. And as for Misty… um… no comment!

Although it's barely mentioned in this part, Princess Mononoke belongs to Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki-sama and Disney, alas. Although for once, Disney got decent dub-actors (Gillian Anderson! Wow!) for an anime – they used _Dawson_ (Mr. Van Der Twat, or whatever his name is. He has a VERY long face) for Pazu in Laputa! Bastards!!!

El part dedicado to everyone who's ever reviewed this! (You're all nuts!!! But huggles and thanks anyway! ^_^)

Warning – _EXTREMELY_ long flashback here! Please don't kill me! ^^'

~*~*~*~*~*~

*SugarSweet

~*~*~*~*~*~

_PartEight_

~*~*~*~*~*~

_"Come on, honey, let's see what it looks like," trilled Deliah, scratching Mimey behind his ear._

_"No."_

_"Ash, let your mother see, now come in here and show us," said Professor Oak, before blowing on the tea in his hand._

_"No. You'll all laugh at me," he mumbled, his voice floating in from the hallway to where Deliah, Tracey, Marill, Professor Oak, Mimey and Pikachu were all waiting with baited breath. "I look weird,"_

_"Pika pika chu! Pika pika-"_

_"Shut up, Pikachu! It's not funny!"_

_"Chaaaa!"_

_"Mo-om!" Ash wailed, still hiding from everyone, "Tell Pikachu to stop!"_

_Deliah folded her hands in her lap, and nudged Pikachu on her behind to go check on him. Pikachu trotted out of the room, followed by Mimey, followed by Marill into the hallway. There was a struggle for a few seconds, a cry from Ash, before he was levitated into the room by Mimey, with Pikachu keeping guard, and Marill was just bouncing up and down until Tracey sat her on his lap._

_Once he was set down, Ash aimed a kick at Pikachu, who quickly dodged it, before sitting on his damp shoulder and sparked her cheeks. _

_"Traitor," hissed Ash under his breath._

_Tracey had his sketchbook out, Deliah had the face of the admiring mother on, and Professor Oak's face was blank. Ash felt embarrassed. His hair was now a navy blue, and was hanging limp at his damp shoulders, making him look like James gone way past wrong. "I feel stupid," he remarked, twisting the water out of his fringe with his thumb and index finger, "I look it as well,"_

_"Oh, honey, you look lovely!" Deliah cooed, making Tracey stifle a giggle, "Now, just let me dry your hair off, and you'll look beautiful!"_

_"Mo-om! Quit saying that!" he yelled, before adding in a hushed voice, "There are **people** here!"_

_"Oh Ash, you shouldn't be embarrassed! You're a very handsome little boy-"_

_"I'M NOT LITTLE! And I'm not 'handsome' either!"_

_By now, Pikachu and Mimey were in hysterics, Tracey had shoved a page of his sketchbook in his mouth and the Professor was hiding his face in his tea._

_"Ash, don't say that! You ARE handsome, don't you think so, Tracey?"_

_Tracey's eyes widened rapidly, before his face suddenly turned blue and he started to choke on the piece of paper he had in his mouth. Professor Oak hammered his fist on Tracey's back until he coughed out a ball of paper, which had the remains of a Pikachu sketch on it._

_"Well?"_

_"N-no… comment…" Tracey stuttered weakly, before cowering away from the death-glare he was shot at point blank range. Then Ash was herded into the kitchen, despite all pleas, by Deliah and Mimey, there was a chair scraped along the floor, Ash's yelp when he was shoved unceremoniously into it, and then the mechanical whooshing of a hairdryer, along with Ash's protests saying it 'was burning', and Deliah telling him not to be so silly, for a good few minutes, and then she dragged an extremely reluctant, embarrassed and sheepish Ash out of the kitchen, with a bunch of his hair flopped over to one side of his face___(AN – Like Trowa from Gundam)___and two small streaks of yellow where the hair dye had missed._

_Pikachu Thundershocked everyone in sight after laughing **way** too hard.___

~*~*~*~*~*~

_"Okay. What's your name?" Tracey asked, for what seemed like the millionth time that evening._

_"Jiu Sacha Kaneda" replied Ash, automatically, eyes staring at the clock on the mantelpiece._

_Tracey nodded, then looked at the next question on the paper on front of him, "I should never have lent you _Akira_," he murmured, "Okay. Place of birth."_

_"Tojoh Falls,"_

_"Parents?"_

_Ash faltered, "Um… I don't know…" Tracey scowled, "Oh wait, um, I don't have any?"_

_"Right. According to this," he tapped the sheet with a pencil, "your parents died in a car-crash when you were six months old and you can't remember who they were. Jeez, the Professor has a really morbid imagination… Okay, um, Trainer ID?"_

_"32558"_

_"Yup. Date of birth?"_

_"12th November 1985. Oops! Wait, no, um, September 17th, 198…"_

_Sighing, Tracey gave up. "1987. According to the data, you have to give your age in as thirteen."_

_Ash shook his head, "That's dumb," He sighed and tried to push his new fringe out of his eyes, regretting leaving his hat behind with-_

_"Dumb, yes, necessary, _**yes**_. And quit flicking about with your hair, or you'll look more dorky than you do now."_

_Ash said dryly, "Thanks for the confidence boost, Trace'." He sighed heavily, and picked distastefully at the pair of shorts he was wearing, "Remind me again why we have to do this?" He settled his gaze on Tracey, who was twisting his headband around in his hands, frowning slightly at the next flurry of writing on the page in Professor Oak's miniscule and almost illegible handwriting, squinting through the dark evening light._

_"Because," he murmured, preoccupied with the writing on the page, "you can't walk up to Professor Elm and say 'Hi, I'm Ash Ketchum, can I have a Pokémon?' when you've been registered across the country as a missing person."_

_"Why not?"_

_Tracey looked up, disbelieving what he just heard, only to see Ash with a cheeky grin on his face. Grinning back, he snatched the remote before Ash had a chance to react and turned over to the episode of Orguss02 that was just starting._

_ _

~*~*~*~*~*~

_"Backpack?"_

_"Check."_

_Tracey ticked the according box on the newly printed checklist with a slight grin, "Um, ID?"_

_Ash held up his Zukan, which bleeped cheerfully, and chattered '**I'm Dexter! A Pokédex programmed by Professor Oak for new Pokémon Trainer Jiu Kaneda, from Tojoh Falls. If lost or stolen, I cannot be replaced.**'_

_"Check."_

_"Spare clothes?"_

_"Yup."_

_"Hair dye?"_

_"Mm-hmm."_

_"You-know-what's?" butted in a new voice._

_"Gaaaah! Mo-oo-m! Quit saying that!" Ash wailed, pulling his long blue fringe over his eyes to spare his blushes, "I'm not a baby!" Deliah grinned, and walked over and kissed his cheek softly._

_"You're never too old to be my baby," she cooed, and Tracey couldn't help smirking when Ash went redder than before. "Understand?"_

_"Okay, okay! Jeez, mom, just quit suffocating me!"_

_Deliah bent down, until she was staring straight into Ash's dark eyes, "Are you absolutely sure about this?"_

_Ash nodded firmly, "Yes, mom."_

_"Are you absolutely positive? I just want you to be happy, Ash,"_

_"I'm positive. I want to be a Trainer, and if this is the only way, well…" he replied, determination clear in his voice. He pulled his new jacket on, fixing the green cuff around his arms and ironing out the new wrinkles in the pair of black gloves he was wearing with his fingers. "Will Pikachu be okay?" he asked for the fifteenth time in as many minutes. Deliah skipped out of the room to check on the cookies she was baking with Mimey._

_Tracey grinned again, and nodded slowly, "Yup. She'll stay here with your Mom, Mimey and Chikorita until you think it's safe enough to get them. The rest will be at the lab with me; when you want one, tell me in case I have to re-register it, okay?"_

_"'kay."_

_Tracey stood up, and stretched his back. "Are you all ready to go?" he asked, and Ash nodded. "Okay, um… Mimey's gonna drop you outside the New Bark Pokémon Center in about an hour, okay? When you get your Pokémon tomorrow, make sure you're first in line – you **have** to get Cyndaquil – the Professor is transferring it to Professor Elm right now. Don't let anyone get Cyndaquil from you."_

_"Okay."_

_"And, erm, stay the heck out of Kanto for a few months. Wait for all this to blow over, because practically every Jenny in the region is looking for you, and even with your disguise, someone might notice you here."_

_"Got it!" Ash grinned, pushing his blue fringe out of his eyes shyly and smiling. "Thanks, you guys," he murmured quietly. "This means a lot…" Tracey had his sketchpad out, and was drawing quickly Ash's 'new look'. "Can you ever put that thing down?"_

_Tracey blinked, then his face lit up as he remembered something. "Here," he said, holding out a thick piece of folded watercolour paper. "I painted it a few days ago. Your mom gave me the photo of you to copy." Ash took in a sharp breath when he saw the artwork. The creases detracted slightly but the vibrant colours brought the whole thing to life. Ash, who had been copied from a two-year-old photo from the Orange Islands, was standing in the middle of all his Pokémon, all thirty Tauros, Chikorita (with googly eyes), Cyndaquil, Totodile, Pikachu, Pidgeot (who Ash had reclaimed late one night when he got back), Heracross, Muk, Kingler, a Mankey and a whole bunch of grass and bug-type Pokémon. "Just so you, um, well, y'know…"_

_Ash nodded silently, folding the picture up and tucking it into his pocket, then grabbed Tracey in a hug, "Thanks, buddy," he grinned._

_"No problem."_

_ _

_Exactly one hour and three minutes later, Ash/Jiu, now wearing a red t-shirt, grey jeans and his new green jacket, plus backpack, plus extra large batch of cookies, stood in the hallway next to Mimey. With another 'guy-hug' for Tracey, a kiss for his Mom and shaking hands with the Professor, Ash linked his hand with Mimey, yelled "See yas!" then they both flashed away to Johto in a blaze of light, and the small cottage in Pallet was silent except for Deliah yelling, "Be careful! And don't forget to change your you-know-what, every day, honey!"___

_ _

~*~*~*~*~*~__

_There were kids **everywhere**! Ash was never patient at the best of times but there were five-year olds asking which Pokémon he was going to pick and their mothers were right behind them, so he couldn't exactly say "I'm not telling you, so bugger off!" or "Mind your own bloody business!" could he? Well, yes, but not without being impolite and risking a smack. He'd been waiting since sunrise outside Professor Elm's laboratory and since then, four other kids had joined up in the line. Two boys and two girls, about his age and babbling about which Pokémon they were going to pick. Ash felt worried – that meant there were five of them. So there'd be more than one each of the starting three… What if there was another Cyndaquil? What if he got the wrong one?! What if someone else got there first? What if he was given the wrong Pokéball?! The kid behind him was yapping on a mobile phone, going on and on about how Totodile was definitely the best Pokémon to start with, to a kid called Dan, while a girl was screeching to 'Anthony' to tape Voyager or she'd kill him, and if he forgot to tape Tenchi or Esca, she'd, swear to God, rip him a new hole. She then turned to the phone kid and started babbling about the kawaiiness of Chikorita, who in turn started going on about how Meganium was feeble in comparison to the almighty Feraligatr, before getting a smack for **daring** to insult Chikorita._

_All of a sudden, the loud chatter stopped, and turned into an awed, hushed whisper, when Professor Elm stuck his head out of the laboratory door and beckoned Ash through._

_ _

~*~*~*~*~*~__

_ _

_Professor Elm blinked through his glasses, as Jiu seemed to be taking his time 'choosing' a Pokémon. Eventually, Ash rested his hand on the middle Pokéball with a glint of determination in his eyes._

_"You want Cyndaquil? The fire type?" he asked, and Jiu pushed his blue fringe out of his eyes nervously, and then nodded. "Okay, although I think it's fair to warn you – Professor Oak in Pallet Town had a lot of trouble with this one, it took him a while to tame it, we only got him in last night, so be careful, okay?"_

_"Okay," mumbled Ash, keeping his eyes on the knot in his shoelace and choking his voice so his natural tone and huskiness didn't show through. "I will." Professor Elm smiled, ruffled Jiu's blue hair fondly and picked up Cyndaquil's new/old Pokéball._

_"Did Professor Oak send you your Pokédex, or do I have it?" he asked, walking over to a weird contraption with a keyboard and a hole. Jiu slid the black-and-red palmtop from his pocket, and started the ID clip playing. Nodding, Professor Elm took the mini-computer off of Jiu, and slid it into a slot on the machine, while placing Cyndaquil's Pokéball into the allocated place. "I'm just registering him over to you, okay, son? Do you want to give him a nickname?"_

_"Um…" Ash paused, staring blankly ahead while his back broke out in a cold sweat. What if Tracey had made a mistake in re-programming? What if the Pokédex told Professor Elm that he wasn't who he said he was? What was he going to do then?_

_"Hmmm… that's odd…" Professor Elm was saying, and Ash felt a giant weight settle on his stomach._

_"W-what's odd, sir?"_

_"Your Cyndaquil won't let me nickname him… Oh well. Just take him to the man on Cianwood if you're that desperate, okay?"_

_Weight gone. _

_Ash let out a huge sigh of relief, which he quickly turned into a yawn. "Didn't sleep well?" Professor Elm asked him, and Jiu nodded a reply, feigning exhaustion in his eyes like a pro. "That's understandable," the scientist continued, "I mean, it's not every day you start your Pokémon Journey now, is it?" Jiu shook his head, as the computer-thingy bleeped happily and spat his Zukan out, and Cyndaquil's Pokéball came out with a 'pop'. "Okay, kid, you're all set! Take care, have fun, buh-byeee!" Professor Elm hurried Jiu to the door, shoved him out, and then dragged the Chikorita-girl through. _

_"Who'd ya pick?" Swinging around, ready to pound the living crap out of the latest person to ask that question, Jiu faltered. The kid was about his height, but was much broader – like a rugby player, and looked too much of a nice guy to attack. At the moment, any way. _

_"E-excuse me?"_

_The kid grinned, "I asked who you picked as your starter," he repeated, his voice carrying a Canadian accent as he raced a hand through sandy-blond hair._

_"O-oh, um, I-I picked Cyndaquil." The kid nodded sagaciously, grinning again._

_"Looks like the Totodile is mine!" he said victoriously, and Jiu cocked his head curiously._

_"How so?" _

_The kid grinned even harder. "Because Toots in there is a Chikorita nut – her life revolves around it and Jolteon, and seeing as you have Cyndaquil, and she's getting Chikorita, and I'm third in line…" he trailed off, wiping his hands futilely on his blue t-shirt and smiling again when he heard the obscenely hyperactive squealing of "**BLESS!!! SHE'S SO CUUUUTE**!!!" from inside the lab. "See what I mean?"_

_"Is her name really Toots?"_

_"Nope – it's just a nickname that she hates and I call her. She doesn't mind it that much, though. I just piss her off with it a lot."_

_"Oh. Are you two travelling together?" The kid sighed._

_"Nope – We're all splitting up – she's going to Kanto, Kaitlinn left last week to go to the Orange Islands, Dan isn't leaving for another month and I'm leaving today to go into the Johto League." He rubbed his finger over the bridge of his nose thoughtfully, "We're all meeting up again, though – Toots and me are going to the Orange League together, and Dan and Kait, well, um… y'know, we'll catch up to them somehow." Jiu nodded sagely, torn between carrying on the conversation and getting the hell out of there, before anyone recognised him. A few moments later, however, he was saved, when the Chikorita-girl, AKA 'Toots', according to Totodile-kid, came bouncing out, brown hair flying behind, a Chikorita tightly wrapped in her arms, and both of them squealing and cooing over the other. Professor Elm beckoned Totodile-kid in, and Jiu made a run for it, sprinting as fast as he could for the nearest route to Cherrygrove, head bowed, trying to shield his face, paranoid that if he looked up, someone would look at him and recognise him. Completely understandable, of course, but he, like everyone else who had done something like that, failed to realise that all he was doing was attracting more attention to himself._

_ _

~*~*~*~*~*~__

Pikachu made an odd thrumming noise in the back of her throat as Daisy swirled her finger in the flush of fur over her prominent stomach and tapped her foot erratically on her knee, while Dusty growled happily as Lily raked her long (and obviously fake) nails through his fur and around the base of his ears, and his tail alternated from straightening right up, and curling softly against his back. Grinning lazily, he let out a long, prolonged "chuuuu…" and continued the impatient wait for his Trainer.

Jiu had gone into the pool for quote: "extra practise" unquote, which, the minute he left Pikachu, Dusty, Daisy, Violet and Lily's vicinity, being dragged by the hand by Misty, Daisy had squealed and gone "Like, I don't believe it – our little baby sister is like, flirting! I'm like, so totally proud!" and promptly burst into tears. It took half an hour and the latest gossip about someone called Crystal who was sleeping with Greg, who was Lily's ex, who was the brother of one of Violet's boyfriends, to calm Daisy down.

Dusty couldn't understand why Pikachu was acting so nervous, though: sure, she looked perfectly happy on Daisy's lap, but her pale amber eyes were shifting anxiously across the room, and her face kept twisting into a frown every so often. Her little yellow paws were folded over her bump tightly, and she kept wincing when one of the babies kicked. Puzzled, he crawled over Violet's knee and pressed a soft paw over her red cheek.

_"**[You okay, Sparks?]**"_ he asked, using his pet name for her to show his concern. Wincing, Pikachu nodded, but he noticed her grip on her fur tighten when the next baby kicked. _"**[You're not okay!]**"_ He gasped, laying his paws on their bump, _"**[Is something wrong with the babies?]**"_ Pikachu shook her head frantically, but she unclenched her teeth in a yowl and Daisy screeched, and half passed/half threw Pikachu to Violet like a hot potato as she stood up and wailed about the large wet patch spreading over her skirt. Dusty's eyes widened as Pikachu began screaming. _"**[Oh… my… God… JIU!!!]**"_

__"Like, what's the like, problem!" Lily asked, blinking at the Raichu whom was head butting the door in an attempt to get to his trainer, then at her sister, who was crying, trying to rub out the water with a tissue, then at her pink-haired sister, who was trying to calm down a frightened Pikachu. "Ohhh, how CUTE!" she cooed, and Pikachu shot her a furious glare.

"**_[Cute? You think this is _cute_?! I'll bloody well show _you_ cute!]_**" Pikachu charged her cheeks up and let them spark menacingly, before she yowled again, balling up her paws into fists and slamming them onto Violet's knee.

"Like, I think she's, like, about to have her babies…" Violet remarked, and Pikachu scowled. 

_"**[You **_**THINK?_ You _THINK_ I'm about to have babies?!]_**" Her cheeks sparked again, making Violet yelp as a stray spark singed her thigh slightly through the side-split in her skirt. 

Lily stood determinedly to her feet. "Like, I have to like, get help!" she babbled, before skipping over to the reception desk. Pressing a few buttons, she spoke into a microphone, "Like, Misty, you and your little friend should like, get back here – his Pikachu is like, in a lot of pain here!" Pressing another switch, she skipped back over to where Pikachu was practically in tears and now Dusty was gripping her paw in his. "Like, if they got the message, they should be on their way!" Pikachu's eyes scrunched shut and it was Dusty's turn to scowl.

"**_[Whaddya mean 'if'?!]_**" he growled, before turning, making half 'chuuuu', half 'shhhh' noises to _try_ to calm Pikachu down, and failing dismally. Bedlam quickly took over in the Cerulean Gym reception until Jiu practically shoulder-charged the door, falling to the tiled floor with a grunt, before jerking himself to his feet and taking in the scene with wild brown eyes, Misty looking inquisitively behind him. Dusty was now scrabbling at his leg, babbling in high-pitched and panicked 'Rai' and 'Chu''s, while Violet was trying to keep a highly aggressive Pikachu calm and avoiding being shocked, and Lily sit there looking completely oblivious to all going on around her, until she looked at the clock, realised her favourite soap opera was on and walked out to everyone's amazement.

"Oh shit!" Jiu gasped, watching Dusty run around like a headless Togetic and Daisy wail over her ruined skirt. "Pikachu's in _labour_!"

**_~ Tsuzuku ~_**

**^_^**

Gomen nasai, the baddie was supposed to be in this part, but I forgot what I was going to write about him… ^^; Next part, next part! Anyway – Pikachu's having her babies! Whoo! See, that's where the baddie was supposed to come in, but hey! Til next time! Ooh, can someone make five Pichu nicknames for me? Put it in your review – I'll use the best ones! Please! Or I'll cry. You don't want me to cry, do you? You want Chuchino to cry? (hears a resounding 'YES' echo across the internet) 

You meanies!

;_;

And Brock was too, but he'll be in the next part too. I'm sorry – I had a lot of stuff on my mind, and this seemed like a good place to finish this part! ^_^ Forgive me?

As for the Totodile-kid being a rugby player (Gomen ne to him. He knows why. But I give him a hug and bubbles), the person who he's based on IS a rugby-playing best-friend of mine, and I refuse to write "American Football", because it's NOT football at ALL, and no offence to Americans, but I will not apologise for this – football is when your foot is in CONTACT with the ball! (LOL, I had a huge argument a while back with Joe and Dan about this… :: giggles :: Oh, the fun of it all! LMOL!) So really, American Football should be called American Rugby, because it really is no different, except you can throw the ball forwards, instead of just behind you. LOL, I didn't realise I knew all that… O_O' I'm pathetic… ^^'

Note: Link to the Pokémon/Princess Mononoke fanfic "Princess Kasumi" (Of which I am a huge fan! ^_^) is [http://members.tripod.com/vvillow/pkasumi.html][1], okies? ^_^ At least, it was last time I checked…

Bloody hell, this note was long! ^^;

Love-bubbles and huggles go out to **everyone** who reviewed this so far! I can't believe I'm almost at a hundred! Kiriban on the way! ^^ If you're number 100, PLEASE e-mail me and tell me! My e-mail address is [chuchino5@hotmail.com][2] , okies?

Lotsa love, hyperness and bubbles!

~ Chuchi-kun

xxx

(Part finished : 11th July, 2001)

   [1]: http://members.tripod.com/vvillow/pkasumi.html
   [2]: mailto:chuchino5@hotmail.com



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